Little Brother
by NotJana
Summary: After 'Chosen' the Scoobies made a point of contacting their families. Several months later it turns out that one relative ... must have slipped Xander's mind. So his friends give him a gentle push out the door - towards the one person that mattered.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer_: I don't own NCIS or BtVS. But some guys named Bellisario and Whedon do.

_Summary_: After the fall of Sunnydale, the Scoobies made a point of contacting their surviving families. Several months later, with the new year just beginning, it turns out that one relative somehow ... must have slipped Xander's mind. So his friends give him a gentle push out the door - and towards the one person that always mattered.

_Timeline_: The story starts several months after the last Buffy episode, 'Chosen' (and anything after is me, not necessarily season 8 or Angel), and season 3-ish for NCIS (meaning Kate is already dead).

_A/N_: Well, I was procrastinating one night and read through some random challenges - and this one stuck. I tried to shake it off but it kept sneaking up on me until I finally caved in... updates should be fairly frequent too (as in weekly to fortnightly).

**--**

**Chapter 1**

There was a row of snowmen - and women - of varying shapes and sizes in the large backyard of the mansion in the outskirts of Cleveland. They watched silently as the first battle of the year unfolded in front of them. Now and then one of them would be hit by a stray snowball, but neither of them minded. Seeing how they were only a pile of snow themselves and all that.

Soon, the battle was over and, after deciding on the winner, all combatants made their way back into the warmth of the house.

"What a way to start another year," Dawn said with a sigh, shrugging out of her wet coat.

"Yeah," Xander added while he brushed the snow of his clothes. "Never figured G-Man to be a _Master of Snowball fights_!"

Smirking, Giles put his now snow-free glasses back on. "I have fought one or two battles in my time."

"Stupid Land of Tweed hogging all the snow," Buffy muttered darkly, not pleased with having lost to Giles, Faith and her sister. "Poor ol' California getting a Hellmouth in return."

Dawn giggled as she plucked the woollen cap from Buffy's head. It was completely white when it had been a darkish blue before they had left the house earlier.

"Yuck." Buffy shuddered as she shook her jumper to get rid of any leftover snow that had found its way down her back.

"Double-yuck," Willow added while she tried to remove the snow from her trousers. When this didn't work, she unceremoniously opened the buckle and dropped them in the middle of the room.

Whistling in appreciation, Faith openly ogled her. "Way to go, Red."

Of course, Faith herself was almost dry. Turns out that growing up in Boston came in handy now and then. High-Fiving Dawn and, with lots of eye-rolling, Giles, she turned as she pushed the two out of the room. "Losers have kitchen duty."

Groaning, the three remaining Scoobies hung up their wet clothes before following them.

--

"Happy New Year!" Abby hugged Gibbs as soon as he opened his front door to her. Smiling, he returned the hug, kissed her forehead and let her into his home.

Almost bouncing into the living room, Abby opened her small backpack and removed a wrapped package.

"Christmas was last week," Gibbs said with raised eyebrows. "And I've already unpacked your present."

"I know!" Abby pushed the gift into his hands. "But I've got this friend who travels a lot and ... and I asked him to bring me some of this. But his return was delayed so I had to get you another Christmas present."

Gibbs looked at the package from all sites. It was gift-wrapped in some silver-ish paper, a black gift ribbon keeping everything in place. "Abby..."

"Open it. Come on. Please?" Abby looked at him pleadingly. "It's like a Happy New Year gift! And you can get me an extra Caf-Pow in return."

His lips twitching, Gibbs nodded towards the door. "Kitchen."

Abby grinned and raced to the door. Turning just as she reached it, she pointed at the still closed present and said sternly, "Open it!"

Shaking his head in amusement, Gibbs did just that. After getting comfortable on his couch, that is. Smiling at the squeal coming from the kitchen, he released his own - much quieter and much manlier, of course - squeal as he found himself holding a package of his favourite brand of coffee.

It wasn't anything you could just go and buy in a supermarket either. No, it came from a small, private coffee farm in Ecuador that mainly sold their coffee locally. He had come across it by accident almost a life-time ago - and yet this was only the third time he had gotten his hands on a sample of the heavenly beverage.

He was trying to get his first sniff through the packaging when Abby came bouncing back into the room - a custom-sized Caf-Pow in her hand. "Gibbs! You're the best!"

"So are you, Abs, so are you." Patting the place next to him, he waited till she was seated. "How's your mother?"

Abby smiled. "She's good. She's meeting with some of her old friends today."

Gibbs took her hand in his. "What about your father? And brother?"

Abby shrugged her shoulders. "Alex sent me a Christmas card. He said last time he heard from dad he was in Vegas."

"He can't stay away forever, Abs. You could always try and find him?" Gibbs said and squeezed her hand.

"No! I'd feel like I'm betraying him. I mean, he stays in touch. Lets me know he's fine." Abby sighed and sunk deeper into the cushions of the couch. "Maybe he just doesn't like me anymore. Maybe I shouldn't have glued him to the ceiling. Or put his hands in warm water while he slept. Or painted a moustache on his face and convinced him it was a tattoo. Or dressed him in a skirt. Okay, he was only 6, but still. Then there was the time I put some pepper in his underpants..."

"Abby! Abs! I get the drift." Gibbs chuckled at his favourite Goth who had become something like a little sister to him. "Don't worry. Trust me. Nobody can resist your charm forever."

Abby gave a weak smile before having a long, long sip from her Caf-Pow.

Shaking his head in amusement, Gibbs grabbed his remote control and started the DVD player.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

And so they started another year like so many years since the first time Abby came to work at NCIS. Not as co-workers but as friends. As family.

--

Giles, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Xander and Faith were sitting on varying surfaces in front of the blazing fire in one of the family rooms of the Cleveland branch of the new International Watcher Council, or as everybody outside the supernatural world knew them - IWC.

Officially, IWC as a company was going back for a long time and was dealing with antiques in all forms and shapes - including anything in written form. They had experts on various subjects working for them. And, recently, those experts started to officially offer their services to whoever needed an obscure text translated or an unusual antique evaluated. If anything, it provided the IWC with an additional source of income - and an excuse for almost everything. Sort of, anyway.

Recently, they'd started to sponsor the odd boarding school for gifted girls - invite only. Like the very house the extended Scoobies were sitting in at the moment. The other residents, aforementioned gifted girls - or Slayers - were either at home or in another part of the house, celebrating the first day of the new year in their own way.

As, for today, this particular room was reserved for the small group of original Sunnydale-ians only.

"Yum." Xander closed his good eye in delight as he popped the marshmallow from its makeshift stick into his mouth. "I'll never get enough of them."

"We noticed." Giles leaned forward and put his teacup back on the small couch table. "Though I am not quite sure where you put them."

"Soft arms," Buffy offered immediately.

"Girly hair," Faith added, smirking at Xander's shocked protest.

"Extra padding for his stomach," Willow managed to say in between giggles.

"In short, keeping up the Xander-shape." Dawn smiled sweetly, leaned over and patted Xander's shoulder reassuringly.

Looking at his friends with sad eyes, he mounted five more marshmallows on the stick and shoved it back into the fire. "Well, I've got to get the love from somewhere."

The young women in the room exchanged a quick look - one the made Giles shudder and sink back further into his armchair - and jumped Xander as one. Buried under a pile of females, Xander had no choice but to give into the urge to hug all of them close. Well, that and admit that he liked them just fine.

Giles smiled wistfully as he watched his former charges enjoy themselves. It was good to see they hadn't lost their playful side completely after everything they've been through the past years. That they could still simply be silly. And, most importantly, that they had managed to overcome the rifts that had opened up between them over time. Sure, there was still some mistrust left and certainly some healing to do, but they've all acknowledged it and were slowly working through it. Which, naturally, didn't work without a hitch, but they were getting there. Amidst the occasional bout of fighting, screaming, accusations and pure stubbornness, that is.

By the time the girls let go of Xander his marshmallows were ... gone. As was the top part of the stick he'd used to roast them on. Mourning his loss for no more than a couple of seconds, Xander grabbed the bag with the few remaining ones and stuffed them all in his mouth at once.

"Eww, Xander! That's so gross!" Dawn said in disgust.

Xander quickly swallowed the marshmallows. "Look who's talking!" he deadpanned, reminding them all of the more than unusual sandwich combinations Dawn used to - and still did - come up with.

Rolling her eyes, Faith held out her hand to Xander. "Come on, Boy-toy, Scooby time."

Xander took the offered hand and, once upright, tilted his head. "I thought you didn't like Scooby-Doo?"

Faith smirked as she made her way over to the couch. "I don't. Though watching you lot watch it is quite entertaining."

"Hey!" Xander half-protested, half-questioned. Pulling Willow close, he whispered in her ear, "Compliment or mockery?"

Faith laughed out loud. "Both, I guess."

Xander grinned. "Okay. I can live with that. Now let's start!"

"I so do not look like her!" Buffy muttered throughout the movie, and she didn't stop when once the movie was finished either. "The TV show was much better anyway."

Dawn sniggered. "Are you sure you haven't forgotten to mention some hidden relatives?"

Buffy growled while everyone else laughed. Even Giles' lips were twitching. "She has a point, you know."

"You're so not helping!" Buffy stood up from her place between Dawn and Willow and stalked around the small couch table and plopped down on the floor - away from everyone else. "I mean, have you seen her _hair_?"

Still smiling, Giles finished off his tea. "Yes, well, apropos families. I hope you've all sent appropriate Christmas wishes?"

After lots of synchronised eye-rolling, Dawn nodded, "Yep. I even got Buffy to send one to Hank."

"Uncle and Aunt I can barely remember," Faith added with a smirk. "And Broods-A-Lot, too."

Xander snorted and, as he'd just taken another sip of his hot chocolate, choked in the process. Willow helpfully patted his back, "My parents are currently in Florida. I called them yesterday."

Buffy glared as everyone looked at her expectantly. "What? My brood is sitting right here! And there're no hidden relatives!" Crossing her arms, she looked at her Watcher. "What about you?"

"I have sent several Christmas cards to my extended family, thank you for asking." Giles took off his glasses and quickly added, "Xander?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Send a card to the last known address of my parents in Vegas. No idea if there's still there, though."

"Fine, now that this-" Giles started.

"Awkwardness of trying to care?" Buffy offered immediately, receiving several nods and chuckles in return.

"-is over," Giles continued with a smile, "I believe it's time for some food. I have taken the liberty to order pizza and ice-cream."

The room immediately filled with lots of whoops and squeals of approval, causing Giles to shake his head in amusement.

"No! We can't!" Willow said amidst the ruckus her friends were making. When she found herself in the middle of everyone's attention, she blushed slightly but quickly shrugged it off. "I mean, Xander wasn't finished, right?"

"Uh..."

Willow narrowed her eyes. "Xander Lavelle Harris!"

"Yes, Wills?" he offered sheepishly. He knew exactly what was coming - and that he was in trouble. Not just with Willow, but, within a few minutes, with everyone else as well.

"Willow?" Giles asked, looking just as curious as everyone else.

She just held up a hand to stop him from asking further questions while she stared at her childhood friend. "Have you or have you not?"

"I even sent a small gift?"

"And?" Willow prompted, her face slowly but surely changing in the feared resolved face.

"A card?" Xander said weakly as he tried to hide behind Faith. Grinning, the dark Slayer shook her head and moved aside, pushing Xander towards Willow in the process.

"Uh huh." Willow didn't sound impressed. At all. "How about ... I don't know ... a _phone_ call?"

"Well, you see, first I had no minutes left," Xander said, moving away from his prowling friend. "Then I'd lost the number."

In the background, Faith pulled a bag of crisps from its hiding place and offered it to Buffy and Dawn with a big grin on her face. They didn't need much prompting and dug in while watching the things unfold in front of them.

Willow's eyes narrowed dangerously at Xander's latest comments. Especially as that could only mean one thing. However, before she could speak up again, Xander added quickly, "But I emailed! And I've just sent a Christmas gift. Did I mention that? The gift, I mean?"

"Ten bucks he forgot to mention a relative," Faith stage-whispered to Buffy and Dawn. They just snorted in return. "Please. That's just so obvious!" Dawn retorted. "Any idea who Willow's talking about, though?"

Faith and Buffy shook their head. And a look over to Giles told them he was just as clueless as them.

"Xander, why don't you tell them?" Willow asked sweetly.

"Uh." He shuffled his feet as he looked at the floor. "Abigail?"

"Stowaway?" Dawn asked.

Faith grinned. "Evil cousin?"

Buffy rolled her eyes but played along. "Aunt?"

"Famous actress?" Giles asked with a straight face.

Laughing out loud, Dawn clapped her hands in glee. "Way to go, Giles!"

Of course, Buffy's protests were easily ignored. What else were friends for, after all?

Smiling sheepishly, Xander shrugged his shoulders. "Sister? Half-sister? Uh ... I guess it slipped my mind?"

For once, the room was silent. It might have been a shocked silence, but it was a silence nevertheless. For a few seconds. Then all hell broke loose.

Questions were asked, one louder than the previous just so it would be heard over the noise. Eventually Faith whistled. Loudly.

"Thank you, Faith," Giles said immediately as he rubbed his temples. "So-"

"Pizza?" Xander asked hopefully. He seemed to have retained a little bit of luck too as he heard at least two stomachs rumble in agreement.

Or not. The girls - and Giles - looked at him and, as one, shook their heads. "Please?"

Willow sighed. "Okay. But I want to know why you haven't called her."

Xander nodded in relief.

"I mean, it." Willow gave him a stern look. "I'm talking deep stuff, here. Not the lame 'I lost her number' excuses, okay?"

So, between eating pizza and lots of ice-cream, Xander told them about his sister.

And his reasons for not talking about her before.

--

_A/N: If you familiar with my other stories than you probably know that this is often the place for random silliness, mainly pertaining to the adventures of Muse (renamed She-Muse after she brought He-Muse along). Though sometimes it also contains semi-useful information. Like it was either starting this story (see? semi-useful) or watching even more 'Xena: Warrior Princess'. Seriously, I watched the first 20 episodes in the last three days (and I was working full-time today!). Ouch. Funny stuff, though._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Xander was sitting in his car, watching the apartment building in front of him.

What if Abby didn't want to see him? Okay, she kinda asked him to come and visit in the email he received after telling her he was safe out of Sunnydale. But that had been several months ago.

What if she wasn't the Abby he remembered? The Abby he loved?

What if she _was_ and she wouldn't want to let him go again? Would want to know where his scars came from? How he'd lost his eye?

What- ... damn, he really needed to pee.

Closing his eye, he rested his head against the headrest of his seat and willed his bladder to expand. Not that it was working, but he figured trying couldn't hurt. Especially now, while he was desperate to procrastinate some more.

Sighing, he opened his eye again. Now he was also freezing. Stupid east coast winters.

Wrapping his coat tighter around him, he got out of the car and, before he could change his mind, sprinted across the street and into Abby's apartment building.

--

Abby was deeply engrossed in her current favourite online game. The music coming from her stereo was loud, a half-full Caf-Pow was sitting within easy reach and the game was going particularly well. In short, she was in Abby-heaven. So much that she ignored the knocks on her door.

Outside, Xander was stepping from one foot to the other. By now his bladder was screaming for relief. If it wasn't for the loud music coming from the apartment he'd have left after the first knock went unanswered. But the music was there. So he tried again.

"Abby?" he called out after knocking once again.

Inside the apartment, Abby froze. She might have been able to ignore the knocks. But not that voice. A voice she hadn't heard for far too long. Jumping up - and throwing over her chair in the process - she raced to the door, not even bothering with turning the music down. Or pulling a robe over the comfy jammies she was still wearing. She fumbled with the locks and almost squealed in relief when she finally managed to open them. The next moment, her apartment door was open and she filled her arms with little brother.

Xander was surprised by the fierce greeting, but then he remembered just who he was dealing with. Abby had always been big on showing her affections. Grinning, he returned the hug. "Hi. Missed me?"

Abby pushed back from him and slapped his stomach. Hard. "You should've called!"

Smiling sheepishly, he hugged her again. "Liked my present?"

"D'oh!" Abby replied, seeing how the CD currently playing _was_ his present. Pulling him inside, she closed the door behind him. And secured all the locks. "Just so you can't vanish again."

Xander chuckled though the chuckle quickly turned into a wince. "Bathroom?" he asked almost pleadingly.

Giggling, Abby pointed him in the right direction.

When he left the bathroom he was once again engulfed in his sister's arms, her face buried deep into his neck. Frowning when he felt the wetness, he gently lifted her head. "Abby?"

She glared at him through teary eyes and slapped him again. "You _really_ should've called!"

"I'm sorry," he said seriously. And he was, even though he still thought it had been for the better - and wouldn't change anything if he had a second chance.

Abby angrily wiped her tears away and slapped him again. "I was worried sick! And I was drinking too much Caf-Pow and I couldn't sleep and I worked too much and then Kate died and I was drinking more Caf-Pow and you still didn't call and I was even more worried and-"

"Whoa!" Xander covered her mouth with his hand. Taking a look around, he led her into the living room and pushed her into the couch. "I'm sorry. About your friend. About not calling earlier."

To tell the truth, he had simply been too raw inside at that time to call. After they'd escaped Sunnydale he'd only sent Abby a short email - and hadn't checked his account for almost two months afterwards. By then, the email about Abby's friend's death had been over a month old. So there was nothing he could have done about it then.

Abby sniffled but nodded, accepting his apology for now. She would just have to keep him locked up in her apartment until he had answered all her questions to her satisfaction. "What's with the eye-patch?"

"Like it?" Xander said cheerfully. "I'm trying a new look. Pirate Xander. Arr, arr!"

Abby took in his black leather pants and light coloured loose sitting button down shirt with a black leather vest on top. The silver cross - complete with a small scull right in the middle - fit right in too, as did the long leather coat he'd been wearing earlier. And, to finish it off, he was wearing leather boots. Abby ruffled his slightly too long hair and grinned. "Not bad, kid. Not bad."

--

Gibbs stormed into the bullpen and straight towards his team. "Where's Abby?"

"Long weekend, boss." McGee answered immediately.

"Your orders," Tony added helpfully. "She'll be back the day after tomorrow."

"Ah, want me to call her?" McGee asked.

Gibbs glared at him, turned and walked towards the elevator, jabbing its buttons rather forcefully.

Ziva gave a low chuckle. "I believe that means 'No',"

"Oh yeah," Tony agreed with glee, smirking at McGee.

--

Sighing in bliss, Xander patted his full belly. "Now that's what I call pizza!"

Abby grinned and finished her Caf-Pow. "You sure you don't want to stay in? We could _talk_, you know?"

"But we've just covered almost two Xander-years over pizza!" He might not have mentioned the Initiative or Buffy dying, but he had told her about most of the other things that had happened in the first two years after graduating from school. "My brain's already begging for mercy!"

"Brain?" Abby deadpanned.

"Ha ha. Very funny. It's not my fault you were so greedy in the brain department. Besides, I like mine just fine." Xander lifted his head slightly and crossed his arm in a mock-pout. He hadn't been living in a house full of teenagers for nothing.

Abby, however, deliberately ignored the pout. Jumping up, she grabbed his hands and pulled him up. "Then let's go!"

Xander raised his eyebrows and gave Abby a very slow, very obvious once over. "Haven't you forgotten something?"

Frowning, Abby looked down at herself. She'd changed out of her _'I'm off work and can't be bothered to dress'_-jammies while they had been waiting for the pizza to arrive. Now she was wearing fishnet stockings that had a huge hole around one knee. She had made it herself and was very proud of the look it created. To honour Xander's current look, she'd also chosen leather - only in form of a very tight and very short skirt, its colour matching the bright red of her lipstick. Her shirt was just as tight as the skirt; it was short-sleeved, low cut and black. Her shoes were ... fluffy, pink and very rabbit like. "Shoes!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Don't move!"

Abby rushed into her bedroom and Xander could hear her talking to herself. He could also hear several drawers open and close. Open and close. Just as he started to wonder if his sister was keeping her shoes in her drawers, Abby opened the bedroom door and slowly turned around herself.

Okay, she wasn't keeping her shoes in a drawer. 'Cause they were still pink and fluffy. No, she'd put on jewellery to go with her outfit. If you could call it jewellery to start with. Abby was now wearing a spiked choker and large matching wrist-bands. And earrings depicturing a skull and crossed bones. She had added even more rings to her fingers too. There was also a simple dark wooden cross resting on the white skin above her shirt's deep neckline.

"Nice shoes," Xander said and wriggled his eyebrows.

Abby slapped her brother as she walked passed him. She opened a cupboard next to her front door and got her favourite leather boots out, quickly exchanging them for her rabbit-shoes. "_These_ are nice shoes. Just about right for some brotherly ass kicking!"

Xander lifted his hands placatingly. "I bet Buffy would be jealous of them."

"Nice save." Abby patted Xander's head patronisingly. "Well done, Alex."

"Xander," he corrected for the umpteenth time since arriving earlier this afternoon, even though he knew it was useless. At least she hadn't called him Kojak. Yet. Pushing that slightly humiliating thought aside - after all, who would like to admit to having been glued to the ceiling by one's own sister at the tender age of seven, loosing most of one's hair as a result? - Xander pulled her into his arms for a quick hug.

"Ow!"

"What?" Abby asked innocently in between giggles.

"Spikes! Enough to make a hedgehog jealous!" Xander complained as he pulled back.

Abby giggled. "Works all the time." Leaning in, she kissed his cheek. "Come on, let's go party!"

--

"Morning, boss." Tony looked up from the report he'd just finished.

"Where _is_ everyone?" Gibbs asked as he glared at the empty desks of his other two team members.

"Ziva is with the director, McGee is down in Abby's lab and Abby is-"

"-on holiday. I know." Gibbs finished gruffly, though he had to fight to keep his mouth from twitching. He looked up towards the stairs leading to the Director's office and frowned. "Call McGee."

Tony, knowing better than to question him, pressed the speed-dial button to Abby's lab. "Three rings, McGee. What took you so long?"

Downstairs, Tim was rolling his eyes. "I was working. What do you want?"

"Ah," Tony stopped short and looked at Gibbs. "Boss?"

Ziva reached them at the same time and handed Gibbs a piece of paper. "Dead Petty Officer."

"Right," Tony murmured. Louder, he said, "Gear up, McGee. We've got a case."

--

Xander woke with a groan. Evil beings with big hammers were having a party in his head - without his permission. He experimentally opened his eye and sighed in relief when he noticed the curtains were drawn, keeping the sun outside. In case it decided to make an appearance, that is. But, alas, darkness suited him much better right now.

Though, as much as he wanted to go back to sleep, he had to follow nature's call first. On the way back he stubbed his toe on a boot and fell forward. Luckily, someone was watching out for him as he landed on his bed. Face first maybe, but at least it was soft. Snuggling in, he welcomed sleep with open arms. Figuratively speaking anyway.

However, just before he crossed that line between waking and sleeping he swore that next time - if there ever was a next time - he went clubbing with Abby, he'd insist on drinking water all night long. Maybe even live dangerous and have a coke as well. But that'd be it. No alcohol. At all.

--

Gibbs looked around the smashed hotel room, taking in the signs of the struggle his team had been working on for the last hour, until his eyes came to rest on their ME. "Ducky?"

"Jethro, a good morning to you too. Although I am pretty certain it wasn't such a good morning for the poor petty officer." Dr Mallard looked up from the badly battered body. "On first sight, his time of death appears to be sometime between midnight and 0600. I'm afraid his killer was quite uncooperative in that respect."

Gibbs gave him his 'And?' look.

"He removed the liver."

"Organ trade?" Gibbs asked, though he almost rejected this motif as soon as he'd asked the question.

Ducky shook his head and went back to work. "No. I don't believe any of his organs were feasible for transplantation at the time of his death. They've all been damaged beyond repair in the beating he received. Although, judging by the states of his hands, his killer shouldn't feel too good either."

"A trophy?" Jimmy Palmer, Ducky's assistant asked eagerly. "Like in some old hunting rituals?"

"Mr Palmer," Ducky warned quietly as he watched Gibbs check on McGee who was responsible for taking the crime scene photos.

Jimmy blushed and got up. "Sorry, Dr Mallard. I'll ... I'll get the body bag."

Moments later, Tony entered the room and went straight to Gibbs.

"DiNozzo, what have you got?"

"Petty Officer Giarno checked in five days ago, paid for the first week in advance. He left at 0800 each morning; the clerk remembered because her shift starts at that time and he almost run her over in his rental the first morning. She was running across the parking lot to be in on time and admitted she might not have been paying enough attention. She didn't know when he came back each day only that his car was still gone by 1800 when her shift ended. He was a quiet customer, no complaints from or about him," Tony said while looking through his notepad.

"He's originally from San Diego, joined two years ago when given the choice between doing this or jail. I spoke to his CO on the phone and he told me Giarno had left his law breaking times behind. He was well-liked, a model soldier, never in trouble with his comrades or the law since joining up. He went on leave a week ago and wasn't supposed to be back for another 5 days. His CO wasn't aware of any plans he might have had and couldn't tell me what the petty officer would have wanted here."

Gibbs nodded. "Did you get a list of all the guests?"

Tony nodded and gave him a copy of it. "Three of the rooms were rented at the same time or earlier as the petty officer. Two are occupied by young couples, one by an older woman who comes here every year. The rest of the current guests arrived after Giarno, none left his morning. Also, the manager is trying to reach the night clerk and call him back in. He'll give me a call when that happens."

Gibbs scanned the list and, seeing DiNozzo had handed David one of her own, said, "I'll start with the rooms next to his. DiNozzo, you start at with those here the longest and go from there. David, you can start on the rest once you've finished up here. McGee, take the evidence back to the lab and start on his laptop."

Gibbs nodded in satisfaction as "Yes, boss!" came from the three members of his team, knowing they'd do their best to solve this case.

--

The next time Xander came around, the nasty little beings in his head had switched to even larger hammers. Bastards.

When it became clear he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep before he did something about those hammers, he carefully opened his good eye to take in his surroundings. Yep, the curtains were still drawn. He carefully turned onto his back and turned his head to the other side - only to find the other bed in his room occupied. He frowned and tried to focus on the person there. Finally, when his fuzzy memories of last night unfuzzied themselves, he couldn't help but chuckle at himself. Thankfully the thingies in his head had abandoned the really large hammers for now, so he could focus more easily on the other bed.

Most of the other person was covered, but, close to the pillows, there were two naked feet dangling over the side of the bed while at the foot of the bed he could just about make out the head of his sister, her pig-tails providing a stark contrast to the white duvet. The smile on his face grew even more. Yep, Abby had been even drunker than he had been.

He now also remembered the taxi ride from the club. As his small hotel had been closer, they'd decided for him to be dropped off first before going over to Abby's place. However, Abby had been barely awake when they'd reached his place and Xander had decided it'd probably be safer to have her sleep in his spare bed. The taxi driver had been a bit suspicious at first, but when Abby had hugged Xander, calling him _'my cute little baby brother'_ over and over again, he'd been satisfied.

Now that he was a bit more awake, he thought it was safe enough to look through his bags for Willow's hang-over semi-cure - without having to greet the porcelain god beforehand.

His feet had just reacquainted themselves with the idea of supporting a whole Xander-shaped person, when the evil beings in his head brought the big hammers back. Only this time they were ... calling his name as well? Xander frowned until he realised that there was actually someone at the door. Mentally rolling his eyes at himself, he quickly grabbed a pair of jeans and pulled them on. "I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Taking another look at his sister - and shaking his head at her ability to sleep through almost anything - he made his way to the door and, leaving the chain in place, opened it. Xander winced as the darkness of the room was replaced with the brightness of the brightly lit hotel corridor. "Yeah?"

A badge flashed before his eyes and one of the two men said, "Mr Harris? We'd like to talk to you."

"Now?" Xander blinked a couple of times to help him focussing.

"No, tomorrow!" The older of the two men barked, causing Xander to wince.

"Okay, okay," Xander lifted his hand in the universal 'give me a sec' gesture. Checking that Abby was still safely tucked away, he removed the security chain, pocketed the room key for safety and stepped out but left the door ajar.

"Nice eye-patch," the younger man commented.

Xander grinned and wriggled his eyebrows. Motioning towards his room, he added, "The girls like it."

"So, where are you from?" Xander asked. "I mean, having a flashy badge is nice and all that, but I'd like to know who am I talking with."

"NCIS," the younger man replied. "That stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Service."

Xander frowned. It sounded familiar but he couldn't quite place. He was just about to ponder on it when his sister called out, "Hello? Ouch."

The two men in front of him looked at each other in shock. "Abby?"

Before Xander could reply, he found himself face-down on the floor, a knee none too gently pushed into his back as he heard someone running into his room.

--

_A/N: Thanks for the reviews._

_Wow. That took longer than I thought. Anyway, two chapters and people meet already! That's bound to be some sort of record for my muses. LOL. Anyway, in case you were wondering, we'll learn more about Abby and Xander and their relationship along the way! _


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Every single cell in Gibbs' body froze when he heard the female voice coming from inside the room. Not because it was female but because he would have recognised it almost anywhere. And that Abby's voice was laced with pain didn't help either.

He didn't think, but reacted and had the young man in front of him on the floor within seconds. One look at DiNozzo was enough for him to take over holding him down while Gibbs rushed into the room. He immediately focused on the occupied bed and would have smiled at the sight of bare feet on top of the pillow being the only thing visible if Abby's pained outcry wasn't playing like a broken record in his mind.

Kneeling down at the foot of the bed, he carefully lifted the duvet.

"Ow," was the muttered reply from Abby before she pulled the duvet down again.

Gibbs opened his cell phone and punched in a number. "Ducky, room 305. Now. Abby's hurt." He threw his phone aside and tugged on the duvet again. "You're safe now, Abs. Come on, let me have a look."

--

Xander was scratching his head. Mentally, that is. Seeing how his hands were bound on his back, this was the only head scratching he was currently capable of.

But, no matter how hangover he was, he knew that he was in big trouble. Though he wasn't quite sure why. Then again, trouble was happy enough to find him almost anywhere - without any explanations to the 'why'. However, this time he was with his sister and not his friends who were more than used to his kind of problems.

Concentrate, Xander. You're _missing_ something.

Hence the mental head scratching.

Concentrate - for your sister's sake.

_Abby_?

They had recognised his sister's voice! And the voice had been laced with concern! So maybe they weren't as royally screwed over as he'd feared!

Xander strained his ears to try and figure out what was going on in the room behind him. And, not for the first time, did he wish for a bit of slayer-hearing. But, alas, it hadn't been included into his measly human package. So he took a couple of as deep breaths as his current positions allowed to calm his racing heart. Concentrating hard, he finally heard the voices coming from his room.

He couldn't understand what was being said - but he recognised the tone of voice. It was mainly comforting, but there was also an undercurrent of worry present. Xander released the breath he'd been holding while listening to any noise coming from his room. His sister appeared to be safe.

_NCIS_.

Xander could have slapped his forehead when he finally remembered where he knew that acronym from.

Abby's work.

This also meant that Murphy was still watching out for him and using Xander as favourite test object for the application of his law - Murphy's Law.

Xander couldn't help but chuckle.

--

Tony DiNozzo was silently cursing himself. He had been too slow. He hadn't even recognised Abby's voice at first. It had sounded so ... scratchy. And by the time it finally registered in his brain, Gibbs had had the pervert already on the floor. All he could do then was to take over from him so he could rush to Abby.

Still angry, Tony increased the pressure on the guy below him. Not that he was making any move to break free, but he figured better safe than sorry. Then again, he wouldn't mind if this Mr Harris _was_ going to make a move - because then he would have an excuse to beat the crap out of him.

After all, Abby was like a sister to him.

Growling, he took a closer look at the man on the floor. He was wearing a pair of jeans that looked as if he'd just pulled them on as there were no socks or shoes. That thought alone made him angry again. Or, rather, the thought that he hadn't been wearing jeans while he was alone with Abby did.

The shoulders and arms peaking out of the white muscle shirt showed that he wasn't a slacker but in decent shape. On closer inspection, Tony could make out several faint scars on both arms and his left shoulder, though the latter was half-covered by his clothing.

Then, of course, was the eye-patch. Tony couldn't help but grin. Mr Harris head was pushed onto the floor in such a way that the uncovered eye saw nothing more than the floor beneath it while the eye-patch prevented him from seeing anything with the other eye, basically rendering him blind.

The girls might like it, but right now Mr Harris was probably scared shitless by his blindness.

Then the guy had the nerve to chuckle.

--

Ducky had just finished transferring the petty officer's body into a body back with Jimmy Palmer's help when his phone rang. "Jethro, what can I do for you?"

Jimmy tried to appear uninterested while he watched Ducky closely. Seeing the colour drain from his mentor's face, he stopped pretending. "Dr Mallard, what happened?"

Ducky just shrugged him off. "Take Petty Officer Giarno back to the morgue, I shall be back later."

"Of course," Jimmy replied though he wasn't sure Dr Mallard had heard him as he was already half-way across the room.

--

Ziva sighed as she left the room. Tony was so going to pay for this one. She was certain he had put them at the bottom at the list after hearing they were a newlywed couple on their first trip to the city. Throughout the interview, they had held hands and giggled and then they'd told her what they'd done during the night.

She shuddered. It wasn't like she was prude, but there had been way too much information for her liking. Useless information at that. They had simply made enough noise to drown out anything coming from the outside.

A look onto her list told her that she was finished with this floor. Thinking of a worthy payback for Tony, she opened the door to the stairs and almost run into Ducky.

"Ducky! What's wrong?" Ziva tilted her head and scrutinised him. He looked worried. Very worried.

Ducky continued towards the next floor. There was no time to stop; he was far too worried about their friend. "Gibbs called. Abigail appears to be hurt."

Ziva immediately changed her plans and followed the ME, the thoughts of punishing Tony pushed into the back of her mind.

--

Abby was hurting. Or rather her head was. Her mouth was dry and someone seemed to have replaced her tongue with a furry little thing. At least that's what it felt like. In short, she wasn't a happy camper.

So she growled when somebody dared to switch on the light. Or take away her duvet, for that matter. Complaining some more, she pulled the duvet back down on her.

Wait.

This didn't feel right. Although she just about noticed that she was indeed in a bed, she suddenly realised it wasn't hers. It was too soft and the duvet was much heavier than hers. Worse, someone was there with her, talking to her. She sat up quickly - only to regret it immediately. A million lights exploded behind her eyelids, causing her headache to increase tenfold.

"Ow. Ow. Ow!" she muttered, closing her eyes and covering them with her hand for good measure. She knew she should open them, see who was there. Maybe even figure out _where_ she was in the first place. But she'd barely formed that thought when her stomach started to feel very, very funny.

And not in a good way.

She was still having a hard time understanding the person talking to her, but the tone was comforting rather than threatening, so she wasn't too concerned and took a chance. She quickly moved her hand from her eyes to her mouth. "Bathroom!" she asked urgently as she tried to disentangle herself from the bed.

Feeling the strong hands helping her up, she almost sighed in relief. Keeping her eyes closed, she let herself be let into the bathroom - and was soon too busy to think.

The next thing she noticed was someone gently wiping her face with a cool cloth. She sighed and, opening her eyes a tiny bit, moved away from the toilet and settled against the bathtub. Waiting till her eyes had adjusted to the light, she finally looked up and into the face of her guarding angel.

Then her eyes opened unnaturally wide.

"Gibbs!"

--

Xander winced when the sound of Abby's throwing up reached his ears. And, suddenly his stomach wasn't feeling too good either. It didn't help that he was still face-down on the floor, the knee on his back pushing his stomach into the floor in the process.

He heard the guy on top of him swear quietly and felt the pressure on his back increase. Xander guessed he wasn't the only one to listen to Abby re-visiting last night's dinner.

And, as much fun it was to just lie around, his good eye shaded from the bright light, Xander figured enough was enough. "Uh, hey, I-"

"Shut up," the guy on top of him said sharply.

Before Xander could think of a reply, he felt others coming closer. Turns out that having your cheek pressed onto the floor had some advantages too. And, judging by the way the intensity of the vibrations was increasing, they were heading straight for them.

"Tony! How is dear Abigail?"

Yup. There were coming for them.

He felt a boot touch his shoulder. "Did he hurt her? Yes?"

Xander gulped. The last voice might have been female, but he knew from experience that pissed-off women, young and old alike, were the worst. Slayer or not. And she sure as hell had sounded _very_ pissed-off.

--

Gibbs almost smiled at the shocked look on his favourite Goth's face. Almost. The memories of holding her head while she emptied her stomach were too fresh on his mind to ignore. As was the situation he'd found her in.

He had almost wept in relief when she had stumbled out of the bed - almost fully clothed. Sure, the clothes were pretty rumbled and it wasn't a guarantee that nothing bad had happened, but at least he still had his hope.

Now that she had recognised him, he was finally able to breathe a bit easier. Stroking a stray hand of hair out of her face he said, "Hi Abby."

"You ... here?" Gibbs watched her frown in confusion, assuming she was trying to remember last night. "How? Where?"

Gibbs took her hand in his. "Hotel."

"Abigail!" Ducky rushed into the room and kneeled down next to Gibbs. "How are you, my dear?"

The frown on Abby's face increased even more. "Ducky? I'm not dead, right?"

The two men looked at each other, then shook their head simultaneously. "No. We are here on a case."

"Here?" Abby tried to peak out the bathroom door.

Gibbs squeezed her hand again. "On another floor."

"Okay." Gibbs watched the wheels turned inside her head. "How did I get here? Was I alone?"

Gibbs looked away. "I don't know." He ignored the second question as his voice hardened. "But we'll find out."

--

Xander sighed in relief when he was pulled up and, none too gently, pushed into his room and onto a chair. Not that this position was more comfortable, seeing how his arms where still tightly bound behind his back, but his stomach was rather grateful for the change in position.

Besides, it also gave him the chance to watch the people around him. And, just like he had assumed, the dark-haired woman looked far more dangerous than the agent, Tony, who had held him down for so long.

He tried to look towards his bathroom, but seeing how he was sitting with his back to it, this proved rather difficult. He turned his head, but that didn't help either as it was on the side of his lost eye.

Hearing Agent Tony snort, Xander turned back and raised an eyebrow.

"The pirate look isn't all that helpful now, is it?"

Xander shrugged his shoulder. Seeing him stepping closer, he turned his head away.

Tony grabbed his chin and glared at him. "What? No more chuckles? Aren't you having fun?"

Xander, knowing he had no choice, held his head still and glared back. He raised his eyebrows again as Tony's hand moved closer and smirked when Tony gasped and pulled his hand back after lifting the eye-patch.

"_Arr, arr!_"

--

Abby's mind was still fuzzy. Why couldn't she remember anything? She absently answered Ducky's question if she hurt anywhere - her head, obviously - but in the meantime she tried to remember last night.

She had taken a couple of days off.

She had planned to go clubbing - and judging by her clothes she hadn't just planned to but had followed up on that plan.

She also knew there was something else, something _important_, she needed to remember. But as soon as she came close to grasping that particular memory, it was like a fog descended over it and, instead of it becoming clearer, it became even fuzzier.

And seeing how both Ducky and Gibbs were eyeing her worriedly didn't exactly help either. Though, deep down, she knew nothing had happened to her.

Then, for a moment, she thought she had heard Tony's voice coming from next door. And, seeing how they were here because of a case, he probably was in there and that thought made her smile.

Moments later, someone answered Tony and her heart stopped.

"_Arr, arr!_"

She had heard that before. Yesterday.

Getting up quickly and ignoring Gibbs' protests, she tried to get out of the bathroom.

"Xander!"

--

_A/N: Thanks again for the reviews! I think they kept He-Muse and She-Muse alive while I was busy ... working. Urgh. But all is better now - I'm on vacation (the kind where you do nothing ... much)! Woohoo! Anyway, some things were pointed out to me that gave me food for thought and I'll address some of it in the next two chapters or so._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

McGee was mentally kicking himself. He had loaded all the evidence into the car, without any help by his fellow agents, thank you very much, and was ready to drive back when he realised that, although the car had been open, the keys were nowhere to be found. Now he had to go and find Tony to get them.

It didn't take much imagination to hear Tony chuckle at his lapse.

Grumbling to himself, he went back into the hotel. As soon as he stepped off the elevator on the third floor, he followed the sounds of a commotion around the corner. It almost sounded as if the whole team - minus him of course - were there already. Noticing the open door further along the corridor, he quickened his pace and entered the room just as he heard Abby calling out "Xander!"

Wait.

"Abby?" he asked flabbergasted. What was she doing here?

--

Xander smiled. She had used what he considered to be his real name, not Alex, Alexander or worse, Kojak. She had called him Xander.

Tony and the woman, Ziva, looked at each other and back at Xander. Who was wriggling his eyebrows at them.

Ha, take _that_. She _knows_ me. She _likes_ me. "Told ya. Pirates."

Then another man entered the room and Xander couldn't help but roll his eyes. Just how many of them were there?

"McGee?" Tony asked.

McGee, still looking somewhat confused in the direction of the bathroom, turned to his co-worker. "Ah, car keys. I need them." Ignoring the quite murmurs coming from the bathroom for now, figuring that Abby would be fine with Gibbs, he took a closer look at the handcuffed man on the chair. "Uhm, why did you cuff Abby's brother?"

Xander couldn't help but snicker at Tony's face. Winking in McGee's direction, he said, "Didn't you know? He's into the really kinky stuff."

--

Meanwhile in the bathroom Gibbs tried to prevent Abby from rushing out. "Shh, it's okay. You're safe."

Abby stopped short and glared at him indignantly. "Of course I'm safe!" As long as she wasn't looking into any bright lights, that is. "Ow," she mumbled and closed her eyes as quickly as she had opened them. She didn't even protest when Gibbs pulled her into his arms again. "Ow."

Ducky patted her shoulder. "The perils of too much alcohol, my dear Abigail."

"Not too much," she protested feebly. Lifting her head up from its comfy resting place, she frowned. "Not more than usual."

Gibbs and Ducky exchanged a worried look.

Suddenly Abby pushed away from Gibbs again. "Xander. Where is my little Xander?"

This time she reached the door before he could grab her again.

And there he was, giving her his best boyish grin. "Morning Abs."

Gibbs, who was standing behind her, locked eyes with Tony. The glare intensified when nobody stepped in to prevent Abby hugging the guy on the chair.

Abby rushed to her brother and, when he didn't get up, she plopped down on his lap and hugged him tightly. "Handcuffs? _Handcuffs_? They _cuffed_ you?" her voice became more and more agitated by the second. Turning around, she looked at Gibbs accusingly. "You _cuffed_ my _little_ _brother_?"

"Oh dear," Ducky muttered as he watched Tony undo the cuffs.

"How was I supposed to know?" Gibbs defended himself, realising he could be in quite a lot of trouble - and not just with Abby. "There's been a murder in this hotel and you were in bed, not knowing where you are or how you got here!"

"But he's harmless!" Abby pinched Xander's cheek, who winced in return. "Look at him, Xander's still a baby!"

Tony coughed in the background, but quickly stopped when he received glares from all sites.

Arms akimbo, Abby continued to stare at Gibbs. "We were clubbing and ... and -" Looking at Xander, she asked, "How did we get here?"

Pushing her onto the bed, he frowned at her. Tiredly rubbing his eye, he said, "You zonked out in the taxi, I had a spare bed. Figured it'd be the easiest and safest."

Ziva, who was watching from the back with Tony and McGee, tilted her head. "You had much to drink, yes?"

Xander slowly shook his still hurting head. "Not nearly enough." Standing up, he quickly pulled on a long-sleeved shirt, glad Abby hadn't noticed the scars on his exposed skin. He absently rubbed his still upset stomach as he looked at Gibbs, his eyes suddenly hard. "I'm not much of a drinker." Not when he didn't know the area and was with someone he cared about. "So we mostly checked out the non-alcoholic cocktails."

"Right." Ducky figured it was time someone took control of the situation - and Gibbs seemed to be too preoccupied. "Timothy, Ziva, Tony, I believe you have a case to solve. Don't forget to close the door on the way out."

--

"Abby's brother," Tony said to no one in particular as they walked along the corridor.

"Well, she mentioned him," Ziva replied.

"But Gibbs didn't even recognise him, nor did Ducky," Tony said then turned to McGee. "But _you_ did."

He shrugged his shoulder. "Kate asked to see a picture a couple of years ago. I just happened to be there."

Tony tried his best to sound uninterested. "Eye-patch?"

"No," McGee eyed him suspiciously. "Why? I thought it was just part of his outfit?"

"Tony?" Ziva prompted. She had seen him reach for it but had been scrutinising the room at that moment and hadn't seen his reaction to lifting it up. Well, maybe he'd looked a bit green afterwards but it could have been the light.

He visibly shuddered. "Empty socket. Scarred and ... _eww_."

"What?" McGee all but screeched.

"Abby does not know," Ziva said matter of fact. Rolling her eyes at the questioning looks from both men, she added, "Or she would have mentioned it, yes?"

McGee held out his hand to Tony. "Anyway, I'm off to the lab. Keys please."

Tony scowled but handed them over anyway. "Coward."

McGee shrugged his shoulders. He'd been called worse things by Tony. And if that was all it took to keep him away from Abby - and her wrath when it hit home just how they've treated her brother - then he could live with it without problem. He'd just have to make sure to have a fresh Caf-Pow at hand when Abby came to the lab.

With McGee gone, Tony turned back to Ziva. "Drugged?"

--

"Ow," Abby said for the umpteenth time since waking up. Only this time it wasn't because her head hurt - though, albeit her quick shower doing wonders already, it still did - but out of protest for the needle currently sticking in the crook of her elbow.

Ducky gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "I am sorry, my dear, but it is necessary."

"I can't believe someone slipped me something," she grumbled.

"We don't know that yet," Ducky reminded her. Though, judging by the amount of alcohol they had drunk last night, this seemed to be a reasonable explanation for the massive hangover and partial loss of memory she'd experienced. He'd already taken a sample of Xander's blood, though his symptoms were much milder than Abby's. Once realisation hit that someone might have drugged Abby, Gibbs had interrogated Xander about last night before he had stormed out of the room. That was enough for Xander to almost forgive him his earlier treatment of him.

"Here, drink this." Xander, freshly showered and dressed as well, handed her a mug of tea. "Willow's special hangover cure."

Ducky looked up with interested. "What's in it?"

Snorting, Xander shook his head. "Trust me, you don't wanna know. Well, I sure as hell don't. But it works great."

"_Willow_ Willow?" Abby asked with interest. "Your _bestest_ friend from kindergarten?"

Nodding, Xander grinned. "Just not so little anymore. But she's still my _bestest_ friend."

"O-oh! Just a _friend_?"

Winking at his sister, Xander said, "Yup. I'm afraid you're currently more her type than I am."

"Oh. Oh! Wow. Little Willow. All grown up."

--

"I've got to have some of that tea!" Abby announced as she danced happily around Xander, her headache and queasy stomach a thing of the past. "It's incredible!"

Xander smiled in amusement at his sister while he waited for his visitor's pass. He'd tried to stay back in the hotel - so he could revisit the club from last night - but Ducky had insisted he'd come with them. There were too many open questions to be answered. Abby, of course, had jumped at the idea of showing Xander her lab and as he'd never been able to resist his sister, he'd resigned himself to the fact that the visit to the club would have to wait. However, he had called Willow while they'd stopped at Abby's place so she could change, and asked her to check it out, seeing how there were several demons present when they'd been there last night. And that included the barkeeper. At least he was pretty sure of it.

With the formalities finally over, Xander attached the visitor's pass to his shirt and turned to Abby. "Lead the way."

Linking arms with him, Abby did just that.

Opening the door to the bullpen, she made a wide circling motion with her arm. "Welcome to NCIS." Winking at him, she added, "Though the really cool stuff is downstairs, of course."

"Your lab."

"Yep." Abby nodded happily, her pigtails bobbing up and down. "And the morgue, of course." Pulling him into the room, she moved towards Gibbs' team, who all happened to be present. Stopping in front of them, she ruffled Xander's hair. "Guys, I'd like you to meet my little brother... Kojak!"

Xander groaned, then whispered something into her ear. Abby squealed and blushed, then turned back to her friends. "You may call him Xander." Before they could reply, she put her arms on her hips, tapped her foot on the floor and glared at all of them. "And just so you know, I'm still mad at you for handcuffing him!"

Pleased that they had at least the decency to look guilty, she added generously, "But that can wait till Xander's gone again."

The corners of his mouth twitching slightly, Gibbs shook his head at his favourite Goth. Seeing her old bubbly and exorbitant self had lifted a huge weight from his shoulders. Even if he hadn't liked his phone call to the police earlier. But that could wait. Abby was fine.

Tim was the first to hold out his hand to Xander. "Timothy McGee, it's nice to finally meet you."

Xander shook his hand and grinned at him.

"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo."

Xander didn't even waver when Tony tried to impress him with a firm handshake. And how could he? He'd been living with Slayers for years! Smirking, he said, "Ah, Mr Bony-knee-in-the-back! Easy to freak out though, huh?"

Abby's eyes became as big as saucers. "Mr _Knee_-in-the-back?" She lapped Tony's arm. Hard.

Xander patted her shoulder and winked when she turned back to him. "It's okay, Abs. Can't fault him for being afraid I might beat him up."

Amidst Tony's spluttering protests, Ziva stepped forward and took his hand. "Ziva David."

Returning her look without wavering, Xander eventually gave a small nod of acknowledgement - as did Ziva.

That left only Gibbs. Knowing how much he meant to Abby, Xander was the one to offer his hand. "Thanks for watching out for my sister."

"Mr Harris." Everyone turned at the voice of Jenny Sheppard coming from the stairs.

Smiling, he offered, "Xander. Mr Harris makes me sound so ... grown up."

The Director of NCIS smiled. "Xander. If I could have a word with you in my office, please?"

Xander frowned. "Is something wrong? 'Cause, you know, I've suddenly got that 'called to the principal's office'-feeling."

"Did that happen often?" Tony asked with glee. He still wasn't over the fact that Abby's brother had made fun of him. Only him. Not Ziva or Gibbs - okay, he wouldn't do that either - nor McGee.

"Wasn't my fault," Xander said with a shudder. "Our principal was evil. Honestly." Well, their first principal was actually quite nice - but he'd been eaten by a pack of students-turned-hyenas, and he'd almost been part of that too. Luckily, the important word there was _almost_. But he could hardly mention that now, could he?

Tony, seeing an opportunity, asked, "What did he do? Bore everyone to death with long speeches? Especially during graduation?" Grinning, Tony turned to Abby. "Abs? What did you think of him?"

She crossed her arms in front of her. "Well, _someone_ forgot to invite me to his graduation. So I can't comment on that."

Xander rolled his eye in a, thanks to long Giles-speeches, well practiced move. "Come on, Abs, I've sent an invitation. I just mixed up the dates. That's all."

"You mixed up the date of your graduation?" McGee asked curiously. "How?"

"Numbers are evil." Xander grinned casually. "Can't say I'm sorry about it, though."

"What?" Gibbs asked, given him one of his patented Gibbs-glares.

"Seeing how my high school blew up during the ceremony..."

"Seriously?" Tony asked with interest.

"Very freaky gas leak," Xander explained matter-of-factly. Custom made at that. By him. Without gas but a huge honking demon snake to kill. But he didn't mention this, of course.

Shaking her head in disbelieve, Jenny pushed herself off of Gibbs' desk. "As interesting as that sounds, I'd still like to have a word with you. And with Agent Gibbs."

--

_A/N: Ahem. _Last on A/N ... I'm on vacation (the kind where you do nothing ... much)! Woohoo! ..._ famous last words, I tell you. From that moment on, I got up early every day (and I'm a firm believer in sleeping in!) to help with a wedding-newspaper (apparently it's a German thing, kinda a summary of the life of the bride and groom with lots of funny bits) which turned out to be a full-time job. So not much of a vacation, but my friends have to be nice to me for the rest of their life! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! To be fair, we had lots of fun doing it ... but there wasn't much time for anything else. Now I'm back at work and - hopefully - should have more time for writing (I really, really hope so! I mean, I'm starting to believe this story is jinxed as ever since I started it I have less and less time for writing. Sniff.)._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"But ... but!" Abby started to protest before Xander hugged her, winking mischievously.

"It's alright, Abby. You can't fault the lady for wanting a piece of my manly Xander-self!" He noisily kissed his sister's cheek before following the Director and Gibbs up the stairs.

Gibbs waited for Xander to enter the office before closing the door behind them. Staying at the door, he watched Abby's brother, trying to make sense of him. There were simply too many contradictory signals coming from him so that he didn't know what to make of Xander.

A young, often still boyish man a couple of years out of high school enjoying his life.

Or a young man who has seen much more of the world than his age would suggest.

"Agent Gibbs told me what happened at the hotel," Jenny Sheppard said kindly, pulling Gibbs out of his thoughts.

"Really?" Xander, who had forced himself to sit down with his back to Gibbs, turned around to give the agent a quick look. "I didn't know you've solved the case already. So, who was it? The butler? Does the hotel even _have_ a butler?"

Gibbs quickly looked down to hide the twitching of his mouth - Xander certainly was good. When he met Xander's eyes a moment later, though, his face was expressionless once more. "We haven't."

"Oh." Xander turned back and smiled lopsided. "But Director Sheppard just said-"

"-and I think we both know what she meant by it." Gibbs pushed himself off the wall and sat down next to Xander.

"Do we?" Xander asked innocently, having no trouble to keeping up the 'I've-really-got-no-idea' facade - even though he was pretty sure that neither Gibbs nor Jenny Sheppard were buying it.

"Mister Harris-" Jenny started but upon seeing Xander holding up his hand in mock-horror, she gave a quick smile and started again. "Xander, the behaviour of Special Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo back at the hotel was unacceptable and amounts to gross misconduct. You have every right to bring up charges against them." Of course, she hoped he wouldn't do it as it could have far-reaching consequences even for future cases, but she wasn't going to tell him that just yet.

"Hm," Xander slowly stroke his chin as if in deep thought. "I could, couldn't I? I mean I was pushed to the floor and hand-cuffed without reason."

Gibbs snorted at the 'You hurt my pride' look Xander was throwing towards him. He might not have made up his mind completely but he was pretty sure that pressing charges was the one thing Xander wouldn't do.

"Agent Gibbs."

"Ah, don't worry. Guess I've got to work on my acting skills." Xander grinned at the Director while he nodded in Gibbs direction. "He figured it out way too easily. Anyway, I've no intentions to press charges. ... Too much paperwork, you know."

Jenny raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Are you sure?"

"Yup." Xander leaned over her table and whispered conspiratorially, "You've met my sister Abby, right? Goth-girl working in your labs? There's no way they'll go unpunished!" Becoming serious again, he added, "Besides, they acted out of worry for my sister. I can hardly fault them for that, can I?"

"Thank you. And if you need anything ..."

Getting up, Xander gave her his best boyish grin. "Just my sister. We've got some evil scheming to do."

Chuckling, Jenny shook her head. "Just don't break my agents. I might still need them."

Xander put his hands over his heart in mock-shock. "I'd never do such a thing." Giving a visible shudder, he added, "I'll just end up having to fix them afterwards again."

"I'm glad to hear that," Gibbs replied dryly. "But before you leave ... I've just finished talking to the police."

--

Xander frowned as he left Jenny's - as she'd offered him to call her - office. According to Gibbs, there had been several reports of drugged, and later robbed, clubbers recently. And not just from the club he and Abby went to last night but others as well. However, recently there had been a surge in such attacks - and their club was one of two with by far the most incidents. To make matters worse, for him anyway, the police officers working the case was coming over to talk to him and his sister.

Looking down into the bullpen, he changed his mind.

They were here already.

Keeping his expression neutral, he walked down the stairs and towards his sister. Smiling as he reached her, he put an arm around her shoulder. "Hey Abs. Who are your friends?"

"Police, they want to talk to us about last night. Not that I can remember anything," she replied. Nodding at them, she added, "This is my brother, Alexander Harris."

Xander took his time to study the business cards he'd been given. Looking at the male Detective, a John Doe, he gave a quick smile. "Nice name."

The detective rolled his eyes and asked if there was a room they could talk undisturbed. Tony, Ziva and McGee immediately moved closer to Abby, forming a protective half-circle around her.

Seeing the detective's raised eyebrows at the agents' reaction, Xander winked and said, "That's very welcoming. You don't wanna know what happened when I met them."

Tony eventually led them to an interrogation room, mainly because that way one of them could keep an eye on them. Xander couldn't have approved more. Not that he was showing it. Instead, he stood in front of the two-way mirror and pulled goofy faces. He even knocked a couple of times against the mirror.

"Mr Harris," Detective Doe said. "If you could sit down please so we can start."

Turning away from the mirror, Xander sighed theatrically but slowly made his way towards the table. "But I've only seen those mirrors in movies before!" he whined before turning to his sister. "Think I can check out the other side?"

Abby let herself be easily infected by her brother's enthusiasm. Especially as it considerably lifted her mood. "Oh! We should watch Gibbs one day! He's great! And scary. And did I mention great?"

"Ms. Scutio, Mr Harris," Detective Cirsky said.

Both Xander and Abby looked up when they heard the woman's soft-spoken but firm reminder that there was a reason they were here. Smiling sheepishly, they apologised in unison.

"Now, what can you tell me about last night?" Detective Cirsky asked. "From the moment you left home?"

It took Xander and Abby a while to fill them in on everything from leaving Abby's apartment to ending up in Xander's hotel room. Once they had finished, both detectives asked them more detailed questions to fill in some gaps and come up with a most likely order of events that led to them ending up drugged.

"So you let your sister dance alone?" Detective Doe asked.

Snorting, Xander shook his head. "She was hardly alone on the dance floor. Besides, my good ol' bones needed a bit of a rest now and then." And he had a better overview of the people in Abby's vicinity that way. But he wasn't going to tell them that. "I ordered our drinks and kept a close eye on them until Abby came over for a break as well."

"You were wearing an eye-patch last night as well?" Doe asked. "I mean, it must have interfered with your vision."

"D'oh!" Abby exclaimed immediately, not liking the tone of the question. "It's part of the pirate costume."

"Besides," Xander added, squeezing Abby's hand, "I held the drinks in my hands."

--

"How's it going?" Gibbs asked Ziva as he entered the observation room. Tony had been called up to the Director to receive his slap on the fingers for his earlier behaviour today and McGee was analysing the laptop of their victim. They were still working a case, after all.

Ziva gave a quick summary of what they've learned so far. "I believe Detective Cirsky is a very perceptive woman, she will not miss anything."

"And?"

Ziva sighed while listening to the conversation in the interrogation room. "Xander."

"You don't know what to make of him?" Gibbs asked knowingly and Ziva nodded. "Me neither."

When Detective Doe asked about the eye-patch, Ziva waited for Xander's answer before speaking up again. "He only has one eye."

Looking at her in half-shock, Gibbs stated the obvious, "And Abby doesn't know."

Ziva shook her head. "Tony lifted the eye-patch and in hotel room. He looked quite ... green afterwards."

Gibbs nodded. "Maybe it's time to have a closer look at his background."

Giving a curd nod, Ziva left Gibbs in the room to watch the remaining interview.

--

"What about trips to the restroom?" Detective Cirsky asked. She'd watched Alexander Harris closely and had come to the conclusion that the eye-patch was for real. And had been for quite a while, giving him time to adjust to the limitations of having just one eye. Though she wasn't too sure if his sister knew that. Especially with them not having seen each other for a while. So she decided to rule everything else out first before coming back to his sight limitations.

Abby and Xander looked at each other and frowned. "We'd finished our drinks first," Xander said eventually.

"Oh! Remember, the last time you went I got myself another cocktail. And then this guy in that gorgeous costume came up and we chatted and ... and I forgot all about it," Abby finished sheepishly.

Frowning, Xander thought back to last night. "The cocktail with the little black umbrellas?"

Abby nodded enthusiastically. "It tasted great."

Scrunching up his nose, Xander shook his head, "Too much absinthe for my liking."

That got the detectives' attention. And Gibbs', for that matter. "You had a sip from your sister's glass?"

Something flashed in Harris' eye and Detective Cirsky wondered if she'd imagined it or not. Looking at her partner, she realised that he hadn't been looking at Harris in that particular moment, so asking him if she only imagined it would be futile. Instead, she concentrated back on Harris as he answered her question, "Yeah. I drank the last bit while Abs was back on the dance floor."

"And that was shortly before you became tired and went home," Detective Cirsky concluded, knowing the answer already. "Can you describe the man talking to your sister?"

Xander snorted. On a first glance he had feared his sister had managed to find a vamp as his clothes were so outdated. So he'd made a point to touch his shoulder when he reached his sister. And it had been warm. "Maybe, but he pretty much left when I returned. Besides, there was no way he could have reached Abby's glass."

"But he might have been the distraction," Detective Doe pointed out.

Xander immediately shook his head. "No, I got the impression he was there by himself. He went off to chat up a woman at the other end of the bar. I think they were still chatting when we left."

"Still, he might have seen something."

Gibbs opened the door to the room and walked in. "What about surveillance cameras? Special Agent Gibbs, we talked on the phone?"

Detective Doe nodded. "We did, that's my partner, Detective Cirsky. The club has got surveillance cameras but they only cover all exits and the passage and entrance to the restrooms."

"His clothes were quite ... unique," Xander pointed out and Abby nodded in agreement. "You should be able to pick him up from the surveillance tapes easy enough."

"Okay, I think all we need now is a good description of the guy and we should be done for today."

--

With the interview over, Abby dragged Xander to her lab. Seeing how they had a new case and she was too wired to do nothing, she started processing the evidence while giving Xander a running commentary.

Enjoying his sister's Willow-esque babble, Xander leaned back and watched her work. Although, even the entertaining commentary didn't keep him put forever and he started to wander around the lab.

"Don't touch anything!" Abby called over her shoulder from where she was processing a sample from the hotel room.

Xander, who had indeed been about to touch a shiny button on one of the instruments Abby had shown him before, immediately put his hands in his pockets. "Who, _me_?"

"Uh huh. Sister-instincts, remember?" Abby said without looking up.

And remember he did. When he was still a small boy and his parents hadn't discovered their love for too much alcohol, Abby would often come to visit them during her school holidays. And, on some occasions, his parents would drop him off at Abby's mom's and stepdad's place before going on vacation themselves. It had never bothered him that his parents would go away alone as long as he could spend the time with his big sister.

Abby had always known the best games and had made him her _'partner in science'_ - which, he now thought fondly, basically meant he had been her guinea pig. But she had also known when he'd gotten himself into trouble - usually by touching one of her experiments even though she'd explicitly told him not to - and, like any superhero, had come just in time to save him from serious harm. Little accidents notwithstanding, of course.

"Bert!" Xander exclaimed the next moment, his earlier train of thought forgotten. Picking up the hippo, he hugged him tightly and turned to Abby. "You've still got him!"

"D'oh!" Having finished with the sample, she skipped over to him and gave Bert a squeeze of her own. "It's only the best present ever!"

"Yup, I know." Xander said smugly as he pulled on one of her pigtails. "You okay with this?"

Abby frowned at the change of tone in her brother's voice. Gone was the ever-present goofy-ness, something Abby thought to be impossible. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's nothing." Shaking his head, he gave a lopsided smile. "Are you okay? I mean with what happened last night?"

"Yup. The headache's all gone. That tea is great!"

Xander held her eyes, silently telling her that this wasn't what he meant. And that she knew that too.

Narrowing her eyes, she added, "Besides, Gibbs will find whoever did this. And then he'll be very, very sorry."

"Abby."

Squeezing shut her eyes Abby shook her head vigorously. "Don't Abby me! Nothing happened. Nothing happened and Gibbs will find the bastard and make him pay."

"Okay, okay." Xander hugged his sister tightly, more determined than ever to find the culprits who've scared and hurt his sister. "Sorry, I just worry about you. Brotherly duty and all that, right?" Abby nodded against his shoulder. Putting his smile back in place, Xander asked, "And now we've got to catch a murderer."

--

"David!" Gibb moved towards Ziva's desk and looked at her expectantly. "What do you have for me?"

Raising an eyebrow, she looked at the empty desks of her teammates. "What about Tony and McGee?"

Gibbs glared at her.

"Right. Not the case." She shuffled through her papers on her desk until she found a small notebook. "Alexander Lavelle Harris."

--

_A/N: I'm pretty sure my muses are mocking me. I'm trying for weekly updates but they just won't any of that. Bah. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews! They beat the mocking muses all the time - because they can't resist them, She- and He-Muse'll have to tell me how the story continues at some point._ _Next chapter will contain some background story, me thinks (though I'm not sure just how much info Ziva has found yet)._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Ziva checked her notes again. Nope. There still wasn't any more information appearing magically.

"Ziva."

Glaring at Gibbs, she read her notes aloud. "Alexander Lavelle Harris was born to Anthony and Jessica Harris in Sunnydale, California. Anthony Harris-"

"-is Abby's father. Divorced her mother when Abby was still small, I know. Give me something I don't know!" Gibbs said impatiently.

"That's why I wasn't going to mentioned that." Ziva glared at Gibbs before pointedly looking back at her notes. "As I was saying, Anthony Harris has been arrested several times for drink related offences, twice in connection with domestic violence in the past fifteen years. His last known address is in Las Vegas."

"He beat his wife?" Gibbs asked dangerously low and Ziva nodded. "What about Xander?"

"That I do not know. The available data on Sunnydale is ... incomplete. There is a centralised database on child welfare services in California, but the information for Sunnydale is spotty at best. I did not find him in the system-"

"-but that doesn't tell us anything."

"Exactly. Remember his graduation? He was not exaggerating. His high school did blow up and there were several casualties, including the Mayor of Sunnydale. The town had an unusually high death rate but nobody seemed to have cared. In the few reports I managed to find, gangs on PCP were quoted as the culprits but I haven't found any evidence of anyone doing something about it. Then again, information on crime and police work is just as incomplete as those on child services. And I believe we all remember Sunnydale becoming a sinkhole last year."

Gibbs threw his empty coffee cup into the trash. "Anything on _Harris _rather than on Sunnydale?"

"I stumbled upon an engagement announcement of an Alexander Lavelle Harris to an Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins. It's dated back about two years. Did Abby ever mention-?"

Gibbs shook his head. Instead of getting any answers, all Ziva had dug up so far gave rise to even more questions. "Isn't there anything else?"

Ziva turned to her computer, clicked a view times and turned the monitor so Gibbs could have a look. It was an article about the aftermath of Sunnydale in a local newspaper. Gibbs skimmed over it but didn't find anything interesting. Ziva scrolled down a bit and clicked on a photograph to enlarge it. It showed a battered school bus close to a hospital entrance and a group of people walking towards it. Squinting, the picture was a bit blurry, Gibbs leaned closer and finally saw what had caught Ziva's attention. The person walking on the right was wearing an eye-patch.

Gibbs leaned back and raised his eye-brows at Ziva. She clicked again and the photograph went back to its original size, revealing the somewhat trashy caption underneath it: _The last survivors of Sunnydale - thought to have made it out by the skin of their teeth_.

Reaching over, he moved the mouse over the picture and clicked again. Taking another look, he pointed at the group. "Is that blood?"

"I believe so, yes." Before Gibbs could interrupt her again, Ziva held up her hand. "And yes, I have checked the hospital records. Xander's name does not appear in them."

Gibbs snorted. "Of course not."

Ziva couldn't help but smile. "However, the person that I spoke to remembered the group from the bus. She seemed very ... eager to gossip."

Going by the expression on Ziva's face it must have been ... not very interesting. Smirking, he pointedly ignored the glare she was giving him and motioned for her to continue.

"She did, however, remember some interesting things about that day. Like the group from the school bus consisting mainly of teenage girls and women in their early twenties. Most of them were injured; broken bones and lots of cuts and bruises. Yet they released themselves after they received treatment and left again."

--

As much as Xander loved his sister, watching her process sample after sample had taken its toll on him. In other words, he was quite simply bored out of his mind. Not to mention him wanting to check out the club they'd went to the night before, and he was ready to take any opportunity presenting itself to escape the lab for a short while.

He was checking out one of Abby's 'babies' for the umpteenth time - yep, it still produced nothing but squiggly lines - when his cell phone rang. He was even happier when he read the caller-ID.

"Wills! How's my bestest friend?" Xander waved his arm to get Abby's attention and then motioned to his phone and the door.

Abby grinned as she shooed him out of her lab, not in the slightest bothered that Xander wanted to take the call in private. "Say '_Hi'_ from me!"

Xander nodded and waved again before the door closed behind him. Sighing, he leaned against the wall. "Yeah, Abs is fine. And you've got yourself another fan of your morning-after tea. She's been bugging me all day to get a sample so she can analyse it with her doohikeys."

"You haven't!" Willow asked in alarm.

Chuckling, Xander asked. "What if I have?"

"Xander Lavelle Harris! I'm going to-!"

"Okay, okay! I haven't given her anything." After chuckling once more Xander quickly sobered up and told her what happened since his last call. "Any news about the club?"

"You were right about the demons. It's not a demon club per se but they're welcome as long as they can blend in and don't cause any trouble. The owner, George Countin is half Brachen as are some of his employees. There hasn't been any trouble other than what you just told me about. Uh, do you have the names of the other clubs where this happened? I could see if there's a demon connection there, though it doesn't seem that way so far? I mean, I could find it out myself but ... you know..."

Xander grinned. "It's not quite legal?"

Willow glared at the phone - and Xander shivered slightly on the other hand. "You're glaring, aren't you?"

"Yup. And it's working!"

"Anyway," Xander drawled out, "I can give you the names."

"But?"

"But?"

"Xander," Willow said patronising. "We've known each other all our life, remember? You can't hide anything from me. Not even a _'but'_."

Rolling his eyes, Xander shuffled his feet and contemplated his options. In the end his mouth took the decision from him by overriding his brain and blurting out, "Abby still doesn't know."

Willow frowned. "Abby doesn't know what? ... Oh! Uh... How? You've been there for ages now!"

"She thinks the pirate outfit is great?"

"Xander, you have to tell her," Willow said sternly, putting on her resolved face. "Guess what?"

Wincing, Xander looked at his phone for a second before putting it back to his ear. "Resolved face?"

"Uh huh."

"Damn."

Giggling, Willow said, "Now go and be a good little brother. And call after you've been to the club."

The elevator doors opened just as Xander was putting his phone away. His grin from talking to Willow still in place, he looked up and straight into the face of Gibbs. "Good news?"

Xander shrugged his shoulder and led the way into Abby's lab. He stepped up behind her and kissed the top of her head. "Willow says _'Hi'_ and she's glad that you're okay. But she still won't tell you what exactly is in her tea."

Turning around, she pouted at him but Xander only grinned.

"Gibbs!" Abby called out as she looked past Xander's shoulder. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I came in with Xander."

"You didn't." Abby frowned and looked at her smirking brother. Slapping his chest, she turned to Gibbs. "Okay, you did. _And_ I've got news for you."

Pushing past her brother, Abby went to her computer and pulled up and explained the evidence she'd processed so far. Xander stood a fair bit to the side, watching his sister interact with Gibbs. Once again he realised just how much Gibbs meant to her and vice versa. It wasn't overly obvious but rather hidden behind small gestures.

"Thanks Abs." Gibbs took the printouts she held out for him and turned to leave.

"Gibbs?" Abby tilted her head and gave him a considering look. "You're going back to the club."

Xander straightened up from his relaxed position against the wall. Now that might just be what he'd been waiting for. Maybe not as good as going there alone, but at least it'd be a start.

Gibbs stopped and turned back slowly. "Abby."

"It's okay. But play nice. I don't wanna have to temper with evidence and break you out of prison 'cause you weren't playing nice with the police. And then I'd have to go to court and lie to them too and I'd get all nervous and fidgety and I'd probably get caught out and then I'd be in jail too! I don't think they've got Caf-Pow in jails!"

"Breathe, Abby." Gibbs pulled her into his arms. "I'll play nice, I promise."

"Okay. Okay. I'm sorry. It's just..." Abby helplessly lifted her arms and let them fall to her sides again.

"I know."

Xander walked over to them. "Don't worry, sis. I'll keep an eye on him."

"What!?" Gibbs and Abby exclaimed in unison.

Ignoring Gibbs for the moment, Xander grabbed Abby's hands and squeezed them. "Abby, I love you. I really do. But if I have to stay here any longer and watch you do all this sciency stuff I might actually pick up something useful! Do you know how _scary_ that is? Besides, my legs are begging me for a little workout."

"You can use the treadmill in the gym," Gibbs deadpanned.

"I'm allergic," Xander said without batting an eyelash.

"To _what_?"

Shrugging his shoulders in response, Xander carefully searched Abby's face. "You'll be okay, right?"

Abby nodded and pointed to the pile of unprocessed samples. Scrunching up her nose, she nodded before her eyes lit up. "Caf-Pow!" Letting go of Xander she raced towards Tony and Ziva who'd just entered the room. Kissing Tony's cheek, she grabbed her drink and raced back. "Thanks Tony! You're the best! Now shoo out, I've got work to do." Not waiting for a reply, she took a long sip and went to one of her machines that had just announced it had finished processing the samples Abby had run.

Xander gave the three NCIS agents a lopsided grin. "Do I get a badge too?"

Gibbs grumbled something unintelligible before heading to the elevator.

"Play nice!" Abby called out before they could leave her lab. "_All_ of you!"

--

Gibbs pressed the emergency stop button as soon as the elevator was a safe distance from Abby's lab. "You're not coming with us."

"Sure I do." The words might have been spoken casually, but Xander's expression clearly said something along the lines of _'You owe me_.'

Tony and Ziva watched with interest Xander withstand the death glare Gibbs was giving him with apparent ease. In the end it was Tony who gave in first after a couple of minutes of absolute silence - even though he wasn't taking part in the first place. "Uh, Boss?"

Gibbs hit the emergency stop button with unnecessary force and the elevator started moving again. Then, for good measure, he hit Tony over the back of his head.

"Ouch. Guess I've deserved it," he said with a wince.

Ziva just raised her eyebrows at him.

"Right." Looking at Gibbs, he said, "Sorry Boss. Won't happen again."

Gibbs gave a curt nod and left the elevator as soon as he could squeeze through the opening doors. Xander patted Tony's back. "Never piss off a pissed off man. Or woman. Well, a pissed off anything, really."

Ziva snorted and left the flabbergasted Tony behind. Shaking his head, he finally closed his open mouth and quickly followed his team-mate. Gibbs wouldn't be too pleased if he had to wait for him. And even though he made it to the car just as everybody was getting in, he was left with the seat behind Gibbs. He barely had time to buckle up his seatbelt before Gibbs started the car and drove out of the parking lot.

Tony swore quietly as Gibbs hit the car's breaks hard and barely managed to stop without touching the car in front of him. He threw a sideway glance at Xander and found him pretty much undisturbed by Gibbs' driving skills. Or rather the lack thereof. Instead he appeared to be deep in thought as he stared out the window. Tony didn't have much time to ponder on this as the traffic lights switched to green and he had other things to worry about.

"You have to turn right on the next corner!" he called out a minute later, seeing how Gibbs was in the left lane.

"I know," Gibbs replied calmly as he cut across the right lane in order to make it around the corner with screeching tires.

Tony wasn't holding onto the seat tight enough and hit his head at his window. Xander barely moved in his seat. Luckily they reached the club the next moment and Tony rubbed his sore head while getting out of the car.

Xander got out seemingly unperturbed and grinned at Gibbs. "Nice driving. I should introduce you to the Buffster; she could do with a couple of extra driving lessons. Her style's a bit erratic, you know?" Cringing slightly, he added conspiratorially, "Just don't tell her I said that."

The corners of Gibbs mouth almost twitched. Almost. He had to give it to the kid though, he hadn't been the least bit fazed by his driving. Tony, however, looked slightly green around the edges. Gibbs wondered if he'd ever get used to his driving, or Ziva's, for that matter. And until he did, Gibbs saw no need to drive more carefully. He had to get his fun at every opportunity, after all.

"You're serious," Tony decided on the way to the entrance. "You really think Gibbs' style of driving is normal."

"Yup." Winking at him and motioning towards Gibbs next to them, he added, "Don't you?"

Gibbs couldn't help but smile and shake his head at Abby's brother. No matter what he thought about him, he'd managed to leave Tony speechless a couple of times in a very short time. And that was something barely anyone could claim to have achieved.

--

Xander stayed in the background while Gibbs, Tony and Ziva talked first with the barkeeper and then with both the owner and the manager of the club. And, judging by their body language, it wasn't going too well. Xander shrugged and went back to his coke. He knew his turn would come soon enough.

"Stay put, we're going to have a look around," Gibbs told him in his no-nonsense voice before vanishing into the back of the club, Ziva and Tony following suit.

Xander smiled. He loved it when things worked out for him. Turning to the barkeeper putting the bar in order close to him, Xander said casually, "Remember me? From last night?"

The barkeeper shook his head and continued working.

"Maybe you remember my companion, then? Gorgeous woman. A Goth, actually. We went through your list of non-alcoholic cocktails," Xander continued, unperturbed by the annoyed looks the barkeeper was shooting in his direction. "Come on," Xander continued lightly. "You can't have that many Goth-girls turning up with their very own pirate?"

This time the barkeeper snorted. "More often than you think, kid."

Xander grinned and wriggled his eyebrows. "Yeah, but how many of said pirates are wearing an eye-patch?"

Sighing, the barkeeper came closer. "Look. I'm sorry what happened to you last night. But I can't help you, I haven't seen anything. The boss has already given all the footage from our surveillance cameras to the cops."

Xander nodded slowly. "So I've heard." He took another sip from his coke, watching the half-melted ice-cubes in the glass for a few moments. Reading the name tag, he grinned. "Speedy, huh?"

Rolling his eyes, the barkeeper continued cleaning and putting away some glasses. "Nobody fixes your drink faster."

"Ah. You know, I never really got the nickname thing myself. I mean, I'm called 'The One Who Sees'." He lifted up his eye-patch for the barkeeper to see. "Seems a bit ironic, don't ya think?"

The barkeeper visibly gulped. And Xander's next comment didn't help either. "Anyway, I think the girls might like the club. I'll make sure to mention it to them."

By now the barkeeper had gone completely pale. He put another coke in front of Xander with slightly shaking hands. "Take whatever you need. I'll ... I'll go and talk to the boss."

--

Xander was half-way through his second coke when the team returned with the manager. He quickly drained his glass and joined them. "Any luck?"

Gibbs growled, causing the corner of Xander's mouth to lift. "Guess that's a no, then."

The next moment, the owner - with the barkeeper close at his heels - came rushing out of the back. "Wait!"

Raising his eyebrows, Gibbs exchanged a quick look with his team. There had been a clear note of panic in that single word. "Yes?"

A small flash-drive was pushed in his hand. "Take it. It should help you. It's all I have, honestly." He gave Xander a quick look before turning and vanishing in the back of the club again.

"Did you see-?" Ziva asked quietly once they were outside.

"-the look the manager gave Xander?" Gibbs finished for her.

"Scared?"

Gibbs gave a quick nod. "Absolutely."

--

_A/N: Once again thanks for all those great reviews. They helped me figure out how I want to play this (especially the (not)easily available information issue). Oh, and thanks to the two of you who pointed out the curd/curt nod issue. Not only did my mistake make me laugh, I also decided to make a list of all the homophones I use wrongly (i.e. words that sound alike but mean completely different things) - but I need your help to point them out. 'Cause I obviously don't use them on purpose (and often don't even know about it until someone points it out ... gotta love that 'English isn't my mother tongue' excuse, right?)._

_Anyway, unfortunately the next update won't be before sometime in December as I'm taking part in NaNoWrimo. Not that I have a plot yet, but there's still three days left, right?_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"McGee," Gibbs called out as soon as he left the elevator at NCIS headquarters.

McGee jumped slightly, having been absorbed in the information on the screen in front of him. His head finally popped up over the monitor. "Boss?"

He watched as Gibbs quickly made his way over and just about managed to catch the small flash-drive he threw at him.

"New surveillance from the club," Gibbs said in way of explanation before sitting down at his desk. Tim looked at Tony and Ziva for help, but they just shrugged their shoulders and went to their respective desks.

"Check the new footage; send a copy to the police department?" Tim asked and, when he didn't receive an answer, he added, "Ah, on it, boss."

"I want answers. Now. The detectives can wait. Concentrate on the hour before Abby and Xander left the club."

Tim was ready to protest, the case was still the police's jurisdiction after all, but then he caught the look in his boss' eyes and closed his mouth quickly. Instead, he connected the flash-drive to his computer and started looking through the footage while keeping an ear on the ongoing conversations between his team members.

"David."

"On it already, Gibbs." Ziva stood up and waved her cell phone at him. "Following up on something."

Gibbs nodded, then he turned to Tony. "I want information on the Sunnydale PD. Everything you can dig up and more."

"Sunnydale, boss?" Tony asked with furrowed brows. It only took him a moment to make the connection. Or some sort of connection anyway. "Isn't that the town that turned into a sinkhole a while back?"

Tim looked around his monitor. "And isn't that where Xander is from?"

"Really?" Tony looked at his boss for confirmation. The Gibbs Glare was all the answer he needed. Tony picked up his phone and dialled the number of an old friend.

--

"Are you done yet?" Xander asked for the umpteenth time since his return from the club.

Abby turned around and narrowed her eyes at him. Without uttering a word she returned to her work.

Xander sighed, so that was a no. Again.

She had told him to go ahead on his own, but there was no way he was letting her out of his eyes, or eye, again. Not when she wasn't safe at work anyway. And that included her travelling home on her own. He knew she was a big girl and all, but after all the things he had seen and lived through, he preferred to be rather safe than sorry. Particularly after last night.

He smirked when he remembered the panicked look on the barkeeper's face as he came rushing back with the flash-drive in hand. Not only had they handed the footage over to Gibbs, but a little brush against the barkeeper's hand later and Xander had held his very own copy in his hand.

He had convinced Gibbs to drop him off at his hotel and there he had promptly forwarded the data to Willow, the small laptop she had given him suddenly becoming more than a dead weight. And when he'd called her, she had once again reminded him to tell Abby about his eye. Xander knew it would only be getting harder the longer he waited and had promised to do that today.

Once he finally managed to get his sister out of the lab, that is. Hence his repeated question if she was done yet. There was only so long he could hold onto his resolution to tell her tonight. And it was disappearing quickly.

"Are you done yet?"

He watched in fascination as his sister stilled any motion. Then, after she released a very long, very deep breath, she turned around and slowly made her way over to him.

Xander should have known not to grin. Not when her hands were hidden behind her back.

Abby stopped right in front of him, a sweet, innocent smile suddenly appearing on her face. Xander heard a quiet ripping sound, but didn't think any of it. A moment later he found his mouth covered by a large piece of duct tape. His eyes opened wide in shock before he grinned and appreciated his sister's sneakiness.

Abby smirked and kissed his cheek. "Remember young Kojak-"

Xander winced and Abby's smirk only grew. Then she continued her sentence, "Silence is golden. Duct tape is silver."

Xander rolled his eye at his sister's retreating back and carefully removed the duct tape again.

As luck would have it, Ducky and Jimmy Palmer chose that very moment to enter Abby's lab. The former raised an amused eyebrow at Xander who grinned back. "She loves me."

"Kinky!" Jimmy wriggled his eyebrows and smiled widely.

"Eww!" Xander and Abby exclaimed at the same time. Abby walked back over to them and glared at Jimmy. "That's just so wrong!"

"What?" Jimmy raised his hands in confusion. What had he done wrong this time?

Ducky finally took pity on his assistant. "Jimmy Palmer, Xander Harris. Xander is Abigail's little brother."

"Oh. Oh!" Jimmy blushed brightly. Then he motioned in the general direction of the door. "I'll ... I'll go and finish, uhm, something."

"You do that, Mr Palmer, you do that." Ducky chuckled as he watched his flustered assistant leave the room. When he was gone, he returned his attention to Abby. "How are you, Abigail? Any headache or queasiness left?"

"Nope." Abby shook her head for emphasis. "I'm all good."

"Do I dare ask about the duct tape?"

Abby gave her brother a dark look. "_Someone_ didn't want to shut up."

Xander looked at her in mock-shock, as if to ask, _'Who? Me?_' before shaking his head gravely in Ducky's direction. "Must be the after effects of the drugs."

Abby narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her. "I'm not the one asking _'Are you done yet_?' over and over again."

Xander grinned and slung his arm over Abby's shoulder. "But Abs, it's my moral duty as little brother to annoy you!"

Ducky watched the siblings interact and chuckled at their obvious affection for each other. Even better, there really seemed to be no problems arising from their unfortunate experience in the club. He stepped forward and took Abby's hand in his. "Well, I am certainly pleased to see you're feeling much better, my dear Abigail. I was a bit worried about you."

"Thanks, Ducky." Abby gave him a one-armed hug and kissed his cheek.

Ducky returned the smile and turned to Xander. "Now, young man, I am deeply curious on how you managed to lose that eye of yours. Mind you, I've once met a-"

"Uhm Ducky?" Abby tugged on his arm to get his attention. "It's a costume. Pirate Xander, you know?"

Ducky's eyes opened almost comically wide in alarm. "Dear Lord!" he whispered as he found himself at the receiving end of a rather pleading glare from Abby, begging him to tell her he was wrong. He sighed heavily. It had been a long time since he'd messed this bad.

Xander, meanwhile, was slowly but surely backing up towards the exit. As long as his sister's focus was on the medical examiner, he should be able to make his way out of her lab before all hell broke loose. So much for sitting her down and carefully breaking the news to her.

Still watching the sorry looking Ducky, Abby called out, "Oh no, mister! You better not move even an inch further!" Swivelling around, she finally focused on her not so little anymore brother.

Slowly coming closer, her eyes narrowed, Abby almost reminded Xander of a slayer on the hunt. Maybe it wasn't as pronounced as with the actual slayers, but it was close enough to be scary. Xander gulped before putting on his best boyish grin. Waving slightly, he said, "Hey Abs."

Abby didn't answer but prowled closer. The only sounds in the room came from several of her machines, quietly beeping and clicking their way through the tasks Abby had set them.

Still, neither Xander nor Abby heard the elevator doors open followed by footsteps coming towards them. Ducky, however, did and he shook his head as soon as he saw Gibbs come storming towards the lab. Gibbs stopped in surprise, then took in the situation and nodded in understanding. There was something going on between Abby and Xander that, by the look of Abby, he better not interrupt. So he leaned against the door and watched.

By now Abby had reached her brother and poked his chest with her finger. "Xander Lavelle Harris!"

One of the machines let out a long beep. "Uhm, your sample is finished?"

Abby huffed and poked him again.

Hard.

"Wrong answer."

Then she reached up towards his eye-patch.

--

_A/N: I'm back! He-Muse and She-Muse are having a big party now that I've finally found some time to listen to them and write again. What can I say, RL has been crazy and, apart from the next two weeks, probably continues to be (in fact, I had to reread the whole story twice to get back into it). So updates might still be slower than I would like, but certainly faster than this one. _

_Anyway, I know it's short, but let's be honest, who wouldn't have ended the chapter right here and there? Muhahahahahahaha!_


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"No," Xander said quietly as he caught her wrist in his hand. "Don't."

"But the eye-patch isn't real!" Abby said stubbornly, even though, deep down, she realised that this wasn't the case.

"It is."

At Xander's quiet tone Abby stopped struggling against him. "But ... but!"

Xander stopped her by putting a finger over her mouth. Smiling lopsidedly he said, "Remember when your mom told us not to play with pointy things? Guess I should've listened more often."

In the background, Gibbs raised his eyebrows. He'd had a little chat with DiNozzo and according to the other agent, there was quite a bit of scar tissue around the eye, speaking of more than just a small accident with pointy things. However, until he or Ducky had a look themselves, he couldn't be absolutely sure.

"We can't tell mom! She'll freak and worry and blame herself and then she'll worry even more and-"

"Breathe!" Xander put his hand over her mouth. "Abs, it's not so bad, really. I still got my other eye and that's working just fine. See? No harm done." Hugging her tightly he added, "And there's no way I can hide this from your mom. She'll probably notice something is wrong the moment she sees me. Pirate costume or not."

Abby pushed back from her brother's embrace and frowned at him. "How?"

"Xander has adapted to the limitations of having just one eye. Your mom will notice this," Gibbs explained from his position at the door.

"Besides, she always knows when we're lying," Xander added. Abby sighed but nodded. Her mom, due to being deaf, was naturally observing others more closely to adapt to her inability to hear. And now, that Abby really thought back over the last couple of days, she noticed the subtle changes in Xander too.

The way his head moved more than she could remember. The way he was a bit more careful when reaching for nearby objects.

Abby closed her eyes. Her little brother had lost his eye and she hadn't been there to help him. Hadn't been there to protect him. Hadn't been there to hold him when he was scared because of his loss.

Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes again and slowly reached for the eye-patch again, her eyes never leaving his good one.

Seeing the determination in her face, the way her eyes were slightly narrowed and her brows furrowed in concentration, Xander let his sister remove the eye-patch.

Abby gasped in shock when she saw the damage to her brother's eye. Xander shrugged his shoulders; he'd gotten used to having just one eye by now. "It's okay Abs. Really."

Abby's eyes narrowed again as she slowly, carefully, started to trace the scars around his eye-socket. Eventually she met his gaze again. "What happened?"

"Big pointy thing?" Xander offered sheepishly.

Abby shook her head. Remembering the other people in the room, she looked over at Ducky. Turning Xander around, she pushed him in his direction. Resigned to his sister's demand, Xander obediently stayed still while Ducky had a look at his eye.

"Dear Lord," Ducky mumbled while carefully probing the scar tissue.

"Messy," Gibbs commented quietly. He'd come over to have a look himself as soon as Abby had pushed her brother towards the ME.

Nodding, Abby slapped Xander's arm accusingly. "Exactly."

"Well, I'm messy with sharp pointy things?"

Gibbs smiled inwardly as he watched Abby huff and puff. He couldn't help but starting to like her brother. However, he was just as interested as everyone else in how exactly he'd lost his eye. Especially now that he'd had a closer look.

"Nu huh." Abby slapped the back of Xander's head. Her arms akimbo, she stared at him. "Spill."

Xander raised his eyebrows and moved back a bit. Her expression was too much like Willow's _Resolved Face_ for him to simply ignore it. One look in Ducky's and Gibbs' direction told him that they were just as interested as his sister, so there was no help coming from them either. "Uh, well, there was that crazy preacher who loved to kill girls in the name of evil and he kinda poked my eye out with his thumb?"

Gibbs snorted while Abby slapped him again.

Xander managed to hide his relief upon their disbelief. Sometimes telling the truth was the best way to keep others off track. "What?" he said in a hurt voice. "It's true!"

"It is certainly an interesting explanation. However, I believe the scars speak of more force than a thumb could execute as cause of the injury," Ducky said thoughtfully. "In fact, it is the first time I've encountered an injury like that."

"I aim to please," Xander replied cheekily - after having moved out of Abby's range. Just to be on the safe side, of course.

Abby huffed as she glared at her brother but was interrupted from saying something when Tony strolled into the room. Taking in the expression on the various faces, he grinned at Abby. "Mad you weren't invited to the wedding, huh?"

"Wedding? What wedding?" Abby turned from Tony back to her brother only to see him rush towards the agent.

Xander stopped right in front of Tony, invading his personal space, yet he didn't touch him. His good eye was ablaze with anger and Tony gulped at the expression on the younger man's face. "None of your business. Understood?" The words were spoken quietly, but the threat behind them was loud and clear.

Abby watched her brother chew out Tony for something she didn't know about. Ducky and Gibbs looked like they had a million questions for Xander too and were ready to act on it. Taking a deep breath, she screamed. It was short and sweet, but her scream had the wanted effect and all the attention was back on her.

"Out!" She pointed at the door and tapped her foot on the floor. "Now!"

Tony was only too happy to oblige. Gibbs locked eyes with Abby and, after seeing the determination in her eyes, gave a short nod and left with Ducky in tow.

--

Tony was still rubbing the back of his head when they left the elevators and walked back to their desks.

"What did you do?"

Tony glared at Ziva but didn't answer. He didn't need to anyway, as Gibbs was doing just fine on his own. "Assuming."

"He got it wrong," Ziva said with a nod.

"Ya think?" Gibbs shuffled some papers, then he looked expectantly at her. "Do you expect me to read your mind? What have you got?!"

Ziva exchanged a quick look with Tony and McGee, rolling her eyes at them.

"Ziva!"

Without batting an eyelash, she turned back, open notepad in hand. "I went with some acquaintances I met along the way first. Unofficially, of course. And I got nothing. You don't want to go there. It's none of your business. Nothing again. And again."

"What?" Gibbs stared at her in disbelief. "You're kidding, right? What the hell did you ask them?"

Ziva shrugged her shoulders. "I mentioned Sunnydale and got nothing. I mentioned Xander Harris in connection to Sunnydale and I could hear the one contact who hadn't hung up on me cringe over the phone. He still asked if I had any other names and I remembered Willow. I believe he started hyperventilating just before the line went dead." Ziva didn't waver under Gibbs' stare. "I have yet to go down the official route. However, I am not sure it would be particularly wise without further information."

Gibbs gave a curt nod and looked over to DiNozzo. He scrambled for his own notepad but when it fell off the desk onto the floor he coughed sheepishly and said, "I called an old friend who called another friend who-" DiNozzo caught Gibbs' look and slapped himself on the back of his head. "Sorry, Boss. Anyway, bottom line is, any former police officer of the Sunnydale PD I could get information on so far has either retired, taken on a desk job or changed career completely. And none of them wanted to talk about Sunnydale."

"Damn." Gibbs hit his desk with the palm of his hand. The loud bang had several heads turning their way. A couple of glares later and anyone but his team was busying themselves as far away from Gibbs as possible. "Who the hell is he?"

"Who?"

Swearing quietly, Gibbs turned around in time to watch Director Shepard walk down the stairs. "Jenny."

"Who the hell is _who_?" she asked pointedly.

"Uh, the suspect in our current case," Tim McGee said nervously. Quickly typing something on his computer, he nodded towards the screen behind her. "I've just told Agent Gibbs about three cases that are possibly connected to ours." He picked up the remote and pressed another button. "The first victim, 52-year old Shawn Langton, was found about two months in his hunting cabin near Easton in Vermont. He was beaten to death and his liver has been crudely removed post-mortem. Unknown male, in his thirties, most likely homeless, was found beaten to death and with a missing liver in Amherst, Massachusetts about a week later and another unknown male was found in Danbury, Connecticut about two weeks ago."

"He's moving south. _If_ it's the same person," Jenny Shepard observed.

"I'm still searching for similar cases," McGee offered. "But it might be a few more hours until the search is finished."

"Good job, McGee." Jenny nodded before meeting Gibbs' eyes. Holding them for a while, she eventually said, "Gibbs."

"Jenny."

"Find him."

"Yes Ma'am." Gibbs watched the director walk back to her office before returning his attention to the screen. "Good work, McGee. Good to know someone actually works in this office."

Ziva and Tony sputtered indignantly as he went off to do some research of his own. Namely going back to the club for another chat with the barkeeper.

--

_A/N: Sorry about the shortness, again, but I'm heading straight into my second cold since Christmas. So I'm feeling a bit (read: a lot) sorry for myself (hey, I've got to get my kicks from somewhere!) and not at all up to editing more. Good news is that this also means the next chapter is almost done, so there's only a short wait ahead of you! And I don't know what He-Muse and She-Muse did over Christmas, but they sure surprised me with the direction they are taking this (particularly the following Abby - Xander conversation)... Anyway, enjoy and Happy New Year!_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Wedding?" Abby asked as soon as they were alone. "What wedding?"

Xander shook his head. "No wedding." He held up his hand to prevent his sister from protesting and asking another question. "Can we go home now?"

Abby scrutinised her little brother. There was a seriousness in his eye that she hadn't noticed before. And as much as she wanted to know the answers now, she realised they needed to have this conversation in the privacy of her apartment, not at work. So she nodded. "Okay. Let's go home."

As soon as they entered Abby's apartment Xander excused himself and went to the bathroom. He needed time to collect his thoughts before talking to his sister. Especially as he had never been able to lie to her. Or, rather, she had always been able to tell when he was.

Taking a final look into the mirror and adjusting his eye-patch Xander gave himself a grim nod before putting his 'I'm-as-happy-as-Larry' mask on and joining his sister in the living room.

"Pizza?" he asked sheepishly.

Abby shook her head and pointed at his eye. Or where it should have been. "When? How?"

Xander sighed and squeezed her hand. "Last year. And it doesn't really matter."

"It doesn't matter?" Abby looked at her brother as if he'd just grown a second head. "_It doesn't matter?_ Are you _mad_? Someone hurt my little brother! Of course it matters! I'm going to find that little bastard and make him sorry he ever took that first breath when he clawed his way out of his mother's womb!"

Xander grinned, his good eye sparkling with mischief. "That's a good one, Abs! Very visual and pretty creepy too."

"Thanks." Abby grinned then slapped his arm. "Stop distracting me! I was ... where was I?" Abby stood up and started pacing. "Right. I'll start with his finger nails. Plucking them one by one. I'm sure Ducky would lend me some of his tool. But then he'd ask questions. No, that wouldn't be good." Abby stopped and looked unseeingly at her brother before turning around and resuming the pacing. "Ziva! I'll bring Ziva! I mean, I know where it should hurt most but Ziva, Ziva's trained in this sort of stuff. She'll help me. Yeah. I'll catch him and cuff him to a chair or maybe to the ceiling of a dark room and then I'll call Ziva. Or maybe I'll get her to help me catch the soon to be dead guy to start with..."

Xander's eyebrows slowly rose higher and higher while Abby talked herself into a frenzy. When his eyebrows where as high up his forehead as they would go he stood up and grabbed his sisters by her arms.

Abby was ready to continue her monologue when her brother grabbed her. She blinked in confusion as her eyes slowly focused on his face. In particular on the big grin on his face.

"Thanks." Xander said quietly before kissing her forehead and pulling her into a hug. "Thanks for wanting to protect me. And for always looking out for me."

"You're my little brother. Nobody hurts you without hurting me too," she grumbled. "And I get cranky if somebody hurts me."

Xander chuckled, pulling her back on the couch with him. "Must be a family thing, then. Cause I get pretty cranky when I'm hurt too."

"What happened?" Abby asked quietly, seriously, as she snuggled into Xander's side.

"That crazy preacher story?" Xander asked, waiting till Abby nodded. "It's sort of true. He was killing innocent girls and the police wasn't doing anything about it. So we tried to stop him. Him and his gang. And we did... but only after I got hurt. "

"Xander..."

"Abby, the man who did this to me is dead. And, even knowing what I know now, I'd go after him again. He was evil; he had to be stopped and we were the only ones able to do it." Xander stared at his sister, wanting her to understand. Seeing the wheels turning in her head, he added, "Sunnydale had many problems. Gangs, right from the day it was founded. Too much sun frying their brains or something. Willow still thinks it was given its name to make up for its true character." Xander chuckled humourlessly. "We renamed it Sunnyhell a long time ago."

"But-!" Abby whimpered as she thought back to her rare visits to her father's chosen home. She had always felt uneasy going out on her own, particularly at night, but had put it down to not knowing the area as she did her hometown. Worse, she knew her brother. She knew when he was lying. Even if it was just a teeny tiny lie. And she just _knew_ that he wasn't lying now. "But ... but you can't just go and fight the bad guys. There are the police and ... and other agencies for that. What if you get hurt?"

Xander raised his eyebrows and Abby huffed. "See? You got hurt already!" Frowning, she moved away from him and tugged on his shirt. "Take it off."

_Uh oh_. Xander moved out of his sister's reach and shook his head. He knew that look and it wasn't boding well for him. "I'm not a little boy anymore."

Abby narrowed her eyes. "Don't play the coy card on me, mister! You're not McGee and even he can't resist me for long!"

Grinning, Xander kept evading her hands. "You and McGee, huh?"

Throwing her hands up in frustration, Abby screamed. "Alexander Lavelle Harris! Stop changing the topic and take off your shirt!"

"Abby..." Xander tried again but she only shook her head. Sighing, he knew from experience he'd have to give in eventually anyway, he took off his shirt and sat down again. He didn't even protest anymore when Abby, after tracing a more prominent scar on his shoulder, pulled his muscle shirt over his head as well.

Abby gasped several times while her eyes scanned first her brother's torso and then his back. Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered the well formed muscles in his upper body but foremost she registered the variety of scars. Her brother had more scars than could be explained with bad luck and clumsiness. Her analytical mind also noticed that the majority must have come from the use of knives or other bladed weapons. And, to her horror, she realised that they differed widely in age. Some were barely visible anymore while a couple where clearly less than a year old.

Tears in her eyes, she traced a still pink line on his right side as she looked up at him.

He smiled lopsidedly. "A little misunderstanding. The guy wanted my money, I wanted it too. He's in jail now, serving several years for some muggings and a couple of stabbings." For the first time Xander was glad about the scuffle with that guy a few months back. From all the scars on his body, this was simply the easiest one to explain. Without having to lie anyway.

Abby was scared. Just what had Xander gotten into? And could she have prevented it? All those scars! They hadn't been there when they met up after his high school graduation. Or had they? Thinking back, she couldn't remember seeing him without a shirt. Abby whimpered again. She should have known! Even then she'd been working long enough in forensics to notice the signs of fighting, of abuse. But she'd been too busy enjoying her brother's company after not having seen him for a few years. He had grown so much yet had still been his goofy self. Or had it all been a mask?

Abby suddenly couldn't breathe. She needed fresh air. She needed to clear her head. Jumping up, she grabbed the first coat she could reach - Xander's - and left the apartment in a hurry.

Xander sighed. Abby was freaking out already and they hadn't even gone to the wedding yet. Slowly getting up, he followed his sister at a more sedate pace. After all, he had a pretty good idea of how she felt. He'd been able to read her face like an open book, with her feelings displayed up front. But he also knew his sister. Knew she needed time to process things. To hopefully realise it wasn't her fault. Although, he figured, that was rather unlikely. So he would have to find another way to make her see. Preferably without introducing her to the supernatural. Seeing how she had a coffin in her bedroom already, he _really_ didn't want to go there.

Xander stopped his car a few houses down after Abby had pulled into one of the driveways ahead of him. He watched her scramble out and more or less run towards the front door. She hammered on it with her fists and Xander almost smiled when he saw Gibbs opening the door, a dark scowl on his face. Xander watched as the scowl turned into a frown before Gibbs pulled Abby into a hug and into his house.

His sister was in good hands for now - and he couldn't shake the feeling that he was needed elsewhere.

--

Gibbs had barely changed out of his work clothes when someone tried to knock down his door with their fists. Swearing loudly, he grabbed his gun and opened his door, ready to give whoever dared to disturb him a thorough chewing out. Though, when his eyes fell on Abby, he immediately forgot about it as he pulled her into a hug.

Noticing Xander's coat, he raised his eyebrows but didn't ask any questions. Yet. Instead, he led her to the couch and sat her down before getting her some of his freshly brewed coffee.

"Drink."

Abby obeyed without thinking. After the first couple of sips her eyes opened wide and she finally focused on her friend. "Gibbs! Hi!"

Smiling, he took a sip from his own cup. "Abby. Wanna tell me what's going on? Where's your brother?"

Sighing deeply, she shook her head. "Home. I guess."

Gibbs gently lifted her chin. "You guess?"

"I kinda left in a hurry?"

Taking the cup from her, he asked, "What happened? Did you have a fight? Did he hurt you?"

"No!" Abby looked up in alarm. "No! We talked, _he_ talked and ... and then I couldn't breathe and had to get some fresh air and then you gave me coffee. Your special coffee. Gibbs! That was a present! Just for you! You're not supposed to share it with anyone!"

"I'm not sharing it with anyone. I'm sharing it with _you_." Gibbs grabbed her hands before she could accidentally hurt either of them. "Now tell me what's going on?"

Taking a deep breath, Abby told him everything Xander had told her earlier and her own conclusions. "See?" she finished, "It's all my fault he got hurt! I could've stopped it and then he might still have both eyes and not so many scars." Her eyes filling with tears, she whispered, "Gibbs? Why does he have so many scars?"

Gibbs held her close while he wondered the very same thing. Although it answered one of the questions that had bothered him ever since meeting the young man. He certainly wasn't the kid just out of high school he wanted everyone believe him to be; he'd already seen much more of the world than most people his age. And from all the information they'd been able to gather so far - which wasn't all that much - a lot of it had to do with Sunnydale. A small town turned sinkhole the previous year.

Looking down at Abby, he smiled. She'd fallen asleep. And, after the day she had, he couldn't even blame her. Leaning back, he put his feet up on the couch table and thought back on his earlier visit to the club while watching his favourite Goth sleep.

Both the barkeeper and the manager had been as forthcoming as they'd been in the morning, though they'd been unable to tell him anything new. In fact, the only time he got a reaction out of either of them was when he had mentioned Harris. The manager had apologised again for not having thought about the camera above the bar but had pointed out they'd quickly handed over the data from it as soon as Harris had pointed them out. The barkeeper's reaction had been even more interesting. He had actually shuddered. Gibbs had almost missed it, but only almost and it had confirmed his earlier impression of them being scared, or at least wary, of Xander.

Gibbs sighed. That boy was raising questions faster than they could answer even a single one.

--

Knowing Abby would be safe where she was Xander drove back to his hotel. He showered, changed into some fresh clothes and went in search for some food before going back for a lazy night in. Naturally his cell phone rang half-way through his meal.

He smiled when he saw the number on the display. "Hi Dawn."

"Hey Xander. How are you? How's Abby? Does she still sleep in a coffin? How about tattoos? How many does she have again? Do you have any pictures? I want a tattoo too but Buffy wouldn't let me. So I figured if she'd met Abby and saw how good it could look she would agree. I mean, the tattoos look good on Abby, right? Are you bringing her to Cleveland before you leave for Africa? I mean, only Willow knows her so far and we're all curious. Cause Willow said she's really smart and you're, well ... uhm."

"Uh huh." Xander chuckled, waiting for Dawn to dig herself out the hole she'd just made for herself. "I'm listening. So Abby's really smart and I am...?"

"Too?" Dawn offered sheepishly. "Just a different kind of smart? I mean, you know all this stuff about repairing doors and furniture and walls and windows and ... you know?"

"After that, I'm expecting a special birthday present."

"Okay!" Dawn was ready to agree.

Xander chuckled again. "So, how's Cleveland? Anything interesting happening since I left?"

"Naw. I mean, with Faith and Willow and some of the girls gone it's pretty quiet."

Xander sighed as he gave the remains of his dinner a longing look. Putting the phone on speaker he went through his bags to find something appropriate to wear.

"Xander?" Dawn asked. "Are you still there?"

"Yup. Just getting ready to go back to the club and I can't have the girls laugh at my attire again, can I?"

"The girls?" Dawn asked cautiously.

"Faith, Willow and whoever else is here?" Xander offered matter-of-fact.

"I'm so screwed."

Xander smiled at the phone, imagining Dawn pouting at the offending piece of technology at that very moment. "Don't worry, Dawnster, my lips are sealed."

"Really?"

"Yup. As long as you tell me when and where they wanted to go tonight."

Dawn scoffed. "That's blackmailing."

"Yup. So...?"

--

"Why are we doing this again?"

Ziva slapped Tony's chest. "They've hurt Abby. They find their victims in the clubbing scene so we're going clubbing. We're going to find them, have a little talk, and then hand them over to the police." Ziva polished the blade of her favourite knife before putting it back into its hiding place in her boots, a feral grin appearing on her lips. "Maybe."

--

_A/N: Ha, only one week between updates (and I'm half-way through the next chapter too)! I have to say your reviews once again helped me a lot in making this work better! So thanks again to everyone who reviewed. And even to those who thought about it. LOL. Now, I have to admit He-Muse and She-Muse are a bit distracted. Oh, they still come up with great bits for this story but they are working on something else. Admittedly, it's my fault for watching all three season of Eureka in the past two weeks but, well, it's a fun show! So anyone coming up with a crossover idea with BtVS, you're welcome to drop me a line (note: instead of Buffy/SMG Fargo will be obsessed with someone else)... Meanwhile I'm trying to convince the muses to work on those other sequels I really want to write!_


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

By the time Abby woke up the next morning - slightly disorientated but immediately calmed by the smell of Gibbs' favourite coffee - Faith and the other Slayers were back on their way to Cleveland. Justice had been done and only Willow had remained behind, too curious to forgo the chance of meeting Xander's big sister again.

Of course, Abby didn't know that yet.

Groaning, as much as she loved Gibbs his couch simply didn't deserve that kind of appreciation, Abby sat up and swung her legs over the side of it. Still yawning, she made her way into the kitchen, happily accepting the mug Gibbs offered her. "Sleep well?"

"Ugh. Your couch is dead." Abby rolled her shoulders to ease some of the stiffness.

"I know, keeps it from running away." Gibbs smiled and patted the chair next to him. "Sit. Eat."

Abby frowned. Something felt off. "Gibbs? What's going on?"

"Xander's fine," Gibbs said before her mind could go into overdrive. "At least I haven't heard anything to the opposite."

Abby released a breath she didn't know she was holding. Then her brows furrowed again. "But _something_ happened. Right?"

He sighed before nodding. "The police arrested a group of men they believe to be responsible for drugging you and Xander. Detectives Cirsky and Doe want to talk to you and your brother again. They'll be at NCIS this afternoon."

Abby stared wide eyed at him. "Really? I mean, they've really caught them? So quickly? Are they going to jail? Or do they have a slimy lawyer who'll get them out straight away? Cause that'd be bad. Really, really bad and make for a very unhappy Abby!"

"Breathe." Gibbs squeezed her hand. "Why don't you go and find Xander, bring him to NCIS and we'll go from there?"

"Xander," Abby breathed. "He's ... and I ... and he'll..."

"Go. Talk to him."

"But what if he's gone again?" Abby whispered. "I just stood up and left yesterday! What if-"

"He'll wait." Gibbs gave her a reassuring smile. Nodding at her cell phone, he added, "Why don't you give him a call? See where he is?"

Taking a deep breath, Abby did just that. It took a few rings but finally the phone was answered.

Only it wasn't Xander. Abby cancelled the call as quickly as she could, dropping the phone on the table as if it was burning her. "There ... not Xander ... woman!"

Gibbs smirked. "Seems like he isn't a little boy anymore. I'd try his hotel first."

--

Tony groaned and rubbed his lower back as soon as the elevator doors closed behind him. "I'm getting too old for this," he muttered to the empty space beside him. But there was no way he was going to let Ziva know just how bad he felt. So he took a deep breath, put his smile in place and looked like he'd had a full night of sleep behind him as he entered the bullpen moments later.

"Morning Probie, any news?" he asked even before reaching his desk. Inwardly he punched the air - he had beaten Ziva into the office.

"There are three more cases that are potentially connected to our murder," Ziva said from right behind him. So much for him being in before her. And one look at Gibbs' desk told him that he was already here as well. Tony just hoped the rest of the day would turn out better than the start.

McGee meanwhile ducked behind his monitor to hide his grin. It was always nice to not be on the receiving end of the daily banter. Schooling his expression, he stood up to stretch his legs. "And all seven murders happened within the last three months." He nodded towards the stairs and, incidentally, Gibbs coming towards them. "Gibbs just updated the Director on the case."

"DiNozzo, it's so nice of you to join us." Gibbs threw his empty cup away and sat down, enjoying the puzzled look on DiNozzo's face. He almost laughed out loud when his agent checked his watch, only to be even more confused.

Tony frowned. It wasn't even 8 am. He couldn't be late. Unless his watch had stopped working. He shook his arm before holding his wrist to his ear to listen to his watch. Nothing.

McGee coughed and exchanged a look with Ziva. "Uh, Tony, it's digital. It doesn't make any sound."

"I know that!" he snapped back.

"I went home, had a shower, and came straight back here," Ziva offered with a smirk. "I did not sleep last night."

"The investigating officer of one of the murder cases currently works night shift, I came in early to catch him before he left for home," McGee offered, holding out a half-empty box of donuts as peace offering.

Tony sighed in relief. He looked at Gibbs for an explanation but only managed to find himself at the receiving end of Gibbs' raised eyebrows. Tony winced, slapped himself on the back of his head and took a donut. "Sorry, Boss."

Gibbs nodded, not even bothering to hide his smile. "McGee?"

"I'm still waiting on some of the case files. I've emailed the ME reports to Ducky to have a look. I'm also trying to find a pattern to the location of the murders."

"Good. But let's not forget that we can't be sure that they are really connected yet. Keep me updated on the background check on our victim." Gibbs waited for McGee's acknowledgement before turning his attention back to Tony and Ziva. "Tell me about last night."

--

Willow looked at the phone and shrugged her shoulders. She didn't recognise the number and, judging by the earlier morning hour, whoever called would probably call back later if it was _that_ important. She glanced over at the other bed and smiled. Xander was fast asleep, lying on his belly, arms and legs spread out in all directions at once. And he was snoring quietly. Willow didn't mind. It was, at least to her, a sound of comfort. Closing her eyes, she let his quiet snores lull her back to sleep.

It was several hours before either occupant of the room opened an eye again. Xander, having woken slowly, stretched leisurely before glancing at the bedside alarm. It took a while until the time registered, but when it did, he sat up with a start. It was well past 10 am and Abby hadn't even contacted him yet.

Something was wrong. He knew his sister. She had needed a bit of space, yes, but there was no way that she wouldn't at least have tried to contact him before now. No matter what, it would have been one of the first things she'd have done in the morning. Especially as she would have had to be at work hours ago. Looking around for his cell phone he frowned when he saw it on Willow's bedside table.

Weird.

Xander carefully made his way around his friend's bed, not wanting to wake her by stumbling over something he couldn't see.

"Morning."

"Jeez!" Xander plopped down on Willow's bed, pressing a hand to his chest. "Wills! It's too early for a heart attack!"

She giggled and, turning onto her back, stretched before sitting up next to him. "Oh! You got an early call but whoever was there hung up again."

"Abby." Xander said with a sigh of relief. Although Willow starting to giggle again had a frown appear quite quickly. "What?"

"She probably thought, well, you and I..." she said in between further giggles.

"Oh. OH!" Xander groaned once realisation hit him oft just what Willow had try to say. "I'm so screwed!"

"Yup." Willow laughed out loud. "And I've got front seats!"

--

"McGee! Grab your coat." Gibbs didn't wait to see if the agent was following him but went straight to the elevator. McGee made it just before the doors closed on him.

"Uh, sorry Boss, but I don't have any new information yet."

"You're working too hard. It's time for a break," Gibbs said casually as he led McGee around the building. "A little walk in the cold will do you good."

Okay, that was weird. But McGee had learned not to argue with his boss before being sure that he could actually win. "Um, okay." A moment later they were joined by Tony and Ziva and McGee figured Gibbs was less concerned about his health but wanted to talk to them undisturbed.

"Let's try this again. Tell me what happened last night," Gibbs said immediately. Earlier this morning they'd been interrupted by his cell phone. It had been related to their current case and had all of them leaving to talk to different people.

McGee frowned. "Last night?"

"I sent them to check out the clubs whose customers get most frequently drugged and robbed." Gibbs wouldn't normally explain this to one of his agents, but this time was different. This time it affected Abby. He continued before McGee could protest - or DiNozzo start gloating. "McGee, I needed you to keep working our case, to keep the Director off our backs so we could keep working on Abby's case."

He nodded, then he smiled. McGee was pretty sure there was a compliment hidden in that statement. "Thanks, Boss."

Gibbs gave a curt nod before turning his attention back to DiNozzo. "I'm still waiting."

"Right. We went to Abby's club first. Lots of people, the barkeeper kept eyeing us warily and still charged way too much for our drinks."

Ziva elbowed him before taking over. "Two hours later he casually mentioned how they've increased their security. The bouncers now knew the faces of the perpetrators and would not let them back in. And all exits were monitored more closely to make sure nobody was dragged off against their wishes."

"Yeah, something or someone had really, _really_ freaked them out," Tony added.

"Xander?" Gibbs asked, causing McGee to choke. "Abby's brother? But he's ... he's Abby's brother!"

"And very hard to get a handle on," Gibbs said dismissively. "What else."

"We changed clubs. The view was better, the drinks were cheaper ... and our guys turned up bound and gagged in the backyard," Tony explained flippantly. "They actually begged the police to take them in. They were spilling their guts about their scheme even before they were handcuffed. They were scared. _Really_ scared."

"Just like the barkeeper from Abby's club," Gibbs stated matter of fact.

"Exactly."

"Did you see anything unusual?"

Tony's eye glazed over for a split second as he thought of the leather-clad brunette, dancing - and hypnotising - about any men and the odd women in the club. And her two female friends weren't all that bad either. He even managed a short dance with a short-ish redhead. Unfortunately they had left before them and Ziva had stopped him from following. His arm still hurt and now sported a huge bruise where she had grabbed him.

A none too gentle slap to the head brought him back to the presence. "I wasn't talking about chicks!"

Tony gaped. "Chicks? Did you just say-? Never mind. No, I didn't notice anything unusual. Dancing, drinking, kissing, dancing, flirting, groping. The usual. Then-"

"Sorry," McGee blushed as he answered his phone. A minute later he closed it again. "Uh, Gibbs, that was Abby. She found something on our victim that she needs me the cross-check with the information I have on the other cases."

"Go. Solve your case," Gibbs said gruffly.

"My... my case?" McGee asked in wonder. Then he grinned. "Yes Boss. Thanks, Boss."

Tony coughed as he watched McGee's retreating back. "That's one happy McGeek."

"He's earned it."

"Yes Boss." Tony scratched his head to get back on track. "Right. Nothing unusual happened at the club until the barkeepers and staff started whispering to each other, pointing towards the back and Ziva and I went to check it out. A wave of our badges later and we were standing in an ally out back, five guys bound to the _outside_ of the fire escape in front of us. They looked like they were standing on each other's shoulders - but with the bottom two guys missing. Never seen anything like that before. I mean, the top guy was almost on level with the roof - and we're talking about a five storey building here! The police called for backup from the fire department to get them down safely."

"Did they say how they ended up there?"

"They did not. However, they confessed to all the crimes they have ever committed," Ziva said thoughtfully.

"David?" Gibbs probed. "You've got something else to add?"

She held her hand up to stop him from continuing and pulled out her cell phone. Walking away from them, she punched in a number she knew by heart and started talking quietly. Five minutes later she was back - and Gibbs didn't like the expression on her face at all.

"Another contact?"

"Yes."

"And?" he added impatiently when Ziva didn't show any sign of continuing. "Does he know Xander?"

"No." Ziva took a deep breath before adding, "But he knows _of_ him."

--

_A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews! I really, really, really appreciate them (and Ego loves them)! I never really intended for any other Buffy characters to turn up in this story, but they still turned up. Sneaky little buggers. She-Muse decided she didn't want to burden McGee with certain knowledge (she's got a soft-spot for him) so he got called away. Not sure what He-Muse has planned for the other three yet, but he keeps smirking, so it's certainly gonna be interesting!_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Abby muttered to herself while she tested more of the evidence from their crime scene. She couldn't believe her brother wouldn't even care about her running off and just go and find himself a distraction for the night! After all, he was the one turning up with just one eye - without having ever warned her beforehand.

Worse, he had barely called or emailed her in the past few years, even though she frequently tried to get into contact with him. Okay, she'd received an email just after Sunnydale became a sinkhole, telling her that he was fine and not to worry. That had been nice of him or she'd probably have gone crazy with worry about him. But after that there had been nothing. Not even after Kate died, after she'd told him how much trouble she had coping with her friend's death.

"Abigail? Are you alright, dear?"

Abby sighed at the concern in Ducky's voice. Taking several deep breaths, she turned around and quickly crossed the distance between them. Hugging him tightly, she said, "Thanks, Ducky. You just stopped me from being really, really mean to my brother."

He patted her back until she let go of him. "Xander? Where is he? I can't see him."

Abby shrugged her shoulders. "Probably still in bed with some random woman." Closing her eyes tightly, she shook her head. "Bad, Abby. Bad!" She took a deep breath and continued more calmly. "He told me some stuff last night and I kinda run off on him. And when I called him this morning, this... this _woman_ answered!"

"Ah." Ducky smiled and squeezed her arm. "So you were about to chew him out in your head because you feel guilty about last night?"

Abby frowned, then grinned when she realised that Ducky was right. "Yep!"

"Told ya she hasn't changed," Xander said, casually leaning against the door to his sister's lab. Next to him, Willow grinned and nodded enthusiastically.

Abby swirled around at hearing Xander's voice. She opened her mouth and closed it again. Blinking, she focused on the redhead next to him. There was something very, very familiar about her.

Willow grinned and waved. "Hi."

Eyes opening comically wide, Abby walked closer, her head tilted slightly to one side. "Willow?"

"Uh huh. Hi Abby."

"Willow!" Grinning, Abby pulled the younger woman into her arms. "Look at you! You're all grown-up!"

"Yeah. I told her over and over again that growing-up is boring but she just wouldn't listen," Xander said in a grave voice.

"Xander!" Two voiced exclaimed in unison and he just about managed to avoid the accompanying slaps.

"What?" he asked innocently, causing them to roll their eyes at him. When his tummy rumbled, he grinned sheepishly, "Lunch?"

Abby turned around and had a look at her instruments, judging how much time she had before the next result turned up. She'd already emailed some of them to McGee and asked him for more information on the other cases he'd dug up so far. There was nothing she could do about it until he called her back. Besides, her Caf-Pow was empty and she needed a refill. "Yep. Lunch."

A cough reminded her of Ducky's presence. "Oh! Sorry Ducky!" Grinning, she pulled Willow forward. "Dr Donald Mallard, our medical examiner extraordinaire. Willow Rosenberg, Xander's best friend from kindergarten."

"Hi," Willow said, shaking the offered hand.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Ducky replied. "But now I must take my leave and see to my customers' needs."

Once Ducky was gone Abby took the other two to a quick lunch. She still had a lot of work to do, after all. But it was still enough time to revisit some childhood stories with Xander and Willow.

--

"He knows _of_ him?" Gibbs asked. "_How_?"

"Whoa, Ziva! Did you just _cringe_?" Tony asked. "Because that can't be good."

"Ziva."

"Fine." She started walking briskly, hands hidden in the pockets of her coat. "Let me ask you a question first. What is your take on the supernatural?"

"Old wives' tales to keep the kids in line," Tony said immediately.

"I wouldn't put it that drastic, but I've yet to see evidence that it exists," Gibbs added more carefully. "Why?"

Ziva took a while to answer. "At Mossad we are trained to not dismiss anything and that includes the supernatural."

"What? If you can't find an explanation, a vampire or werewolf must be the solution?" Tony asked, sounding rather sceptical. "I know that we had our share of unsolved crimes at Baltimore PD. Are you honestly saying that those were carried out by supernatural beings as well? Don't get me wrong, Ziva, but that sounds like nothing but an excuse for not solving a crime. And a bad excuse at that."

Tony expected Ziva to be put off by his reaction, but she only shrugged her shoulders. "Didn't you ever come across a crime scene that just felt off? A victim dying of exsanguination, animal bite on his neck or a very messy neck wound, but there wasn't nearly enough blood at the scene?"

"There was no blood because the victim was killed elsewhere," Tony said. "It's known to happen that bodies are dumped after they've been killed somewhere else, Ziva."

"Ah!" Ziva said rather triumphantly. "So you had one or more cases like this!"

Tony pulled a face at her but didn't deny it. "Quite a few, actually. But, surprise, surprise, in most cases we also found the place where they were killed."

Ziva raised an eyebrow. "And, tell me, Tony, what about those cases you couldn't find the original crime scene of? Any chance a victim vanished from the morgue?"

"Not vanished. Misplaced by the new assistant." Tony's voice slowly but surely became defensive.

"Let me guess, the victim as found with foreign blood in its mouth. Then it vanished from the morgue, never to be seen again," Ziva said triumphantly. "Vampire. Your victim either got up and walked out of the morgue or, if you were lucky, someone took care of the problem and killed the vampire before it could escape."

Tony snorted, although even to his own ears it didn't sound very convincing. "Any chance you watched horror movies with Abby lately?" Realising Gibbs hadn't said anything for quite a while, Tony looked at him questioningly. "Boss?"

Gibbs sighed. "What?"

"Ever come across Ziva's scenario?"

He held Tony's eyes for a moment, his face unreadable. Turning to Ziva he asked, "And just how might this be related to Abby's brother?"

--

Said brother was currently hiding his face in his hands, groaning rather pitifully.

Willow had just discovered the joys of Caf-Pow.

And now she was talking a hundred miles an hour with Abby about some computer related thing or other. At least that's what they had started to talk about and Xander had given up following their conversation a long time ago, though he couldn't be a hundred percent sure they hadn't changed topics.

Moments later his head shot up quickly when he heard the word _'wedding'_ coming from his sister. And judging by the sudden silence his hopes of having misheard it were quickly crushed. Sighing deeply, he looked at his confused sister. "Abby? What did you ask?"

Abby shrugged her shoulders. "It's not important." The sudden change in Willow's mood and the resignation in Xander's voice told her everything she needed to know. It wasn't a happy story to be told.

"Abs, I don't know how you two went from computers to wedding or how many stops you took in-between, but that's where your conversation ended up at, right? The wedding Tony shouldn't have known about but still mentioned so helpfully?"

Abby nodded sheepishly. "You don't need to-" Eyes opening wide, she looked first at brother, then at Willow. "He ran a background check on you! First the handcuffs and now this!? I thought we were friends! I'm ... I'm-"

"Going to take a deep breath," Xander said, gently taking her hands in his. "Besides, the handcuffs were to protect you, remember? I guess the background check was for the same reason. Gibbs probably told him to."

"But ... but you're my brother! They don't need to do a background check on you! I know you, I trust you. Shouldn't that be enough?" Abby asked as she paced in front of them.

Xander snorted. "How long have you known Gibbs?"

Abby stopped mid-pace. Scowling, she crossed her arms in front of her. "He still could have told me."

"He's worried about you." Xander pulled her into his side, kissing the top of her head. "Besides, I'm glad you've got friends that are looking out for you."

"So you're not mad that they checked up on you?" Abby asked.

Xander shrugged. "Honestly? I would have done the same."

Willow stood nearby, her cheeks slowly but surely turning red. Lifting a hand to get their attention, she said, "I, uhm, might have done that already."

Abby looked shocked, but only for a moment. Then a grin started to spread across her face. "You checked up on Tony?"

"Uh huh. And Ziva and Gibbs," Willow admitted sheepishly.

Abby's eyes lightened up immediately. "Found anything interesting?"

"Like blackmail-worthy interesting?" Willow grinned, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "I might."

Xander chuckled. It was great to see Willow like this, completely Willow-y, with no signs of the power and all the things coming with it overshadowing her bubbly nature. "Somehow I feel sorry for them."

"Wait a second, the feeling will disappear quickly," Willow deadpanned.

"Yep." Xander nodded. "You're right. It's gone."

Abby giggled and pulled Willow close. One arm around the redhead, the other around her brother, she squeezed both of them tightly. "I'm glad you're here."

Her brother returned the hug, sighing mentally at once again having escaped the questions about the wedding.

"Just promise me you'll tell me about the wedding at some point?" Abby asked quietly. Xander sighed, and this time it wasn't just mentally. Apparently his sister hadn't forgotten again. Kissing Abby's cheek, he asked, "Think you've got time for the short version?"

Abby bit her lips. She really should go back to her lab. But at the same time she wanted some answers. Besides, it wasn't like Gibbs could scold her for not working. He was apparently busy with anything but the case too! "Only if you want to."

Xander smiled wistfully. "Anya. Her name was Anya. She was the bluntest person you could ever imagine. But I loved her. I might have proposed in the heat of the moment, though. I'm sorry I never told you. I guess deep down I always knew the doubts would win out."

"You didn't!" Abby cried out in alarm.

Xander nodded. "Yes I did. I left her on our wedding day. I know it was selfish but I just wasn't ready. Long story short, we became friends again before Sunnydale turned into a giant sinkhole." Xander stopped, looking into the far distance without seeing anything. "She died that day."

--

Ziva looked at the two men coming rather close to invading her personal space. In any other situation, she would have done something about it. But she knew where they were coming from so she let them be. "We weren't only told to keep an open mind, or that believing in the supernatural isn't wrong. We were also told it wasn't our jurisdiction. If we came across something we didn't understand, we were supposed to tell our superiors. They would then make sure the situation would get looked at from all possible - and impossible - angles."

"By whom?" Gibbs asked immediately.

"That I do not know. Only that they, whoever _they_ were, were experts for unusual situations."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows. "Did you come across anything you thought to be of supernatural origin?"

Ziva nodded. "Several times, actually. In most cases we got a call back, telling us to continue with what we were doing. But once we were pulled from our assignment almost immediately. I later tried to find out what happened but was told that it was none of my business. I did hear that something like the vampire story I told you earlier happened occasionally."

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Gibbs asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. "It wasn't relevant to any of our cases."

"And now it is," Gibbs said matter of fact. "Because of Xander."

"Yes."

"Continue."

Ziva took a deep breath. "There were rumours, most of them in connection with a girl suddenly appearing and the problem vanishing. The descriptions of the girl varied widely, but she was always said to be unnaturally strong and fast. I once asked my father about it and he just looked at me for a very long time. Then he smiled and said _'I'm glad you never had to learn more about the one who must walk her path alone and die young.'_ Then he told me to be grateful for her existence and that she is a true Champion of Light, that, if I should ever meet her, I was to follow her orders without questions."

"As interesting as your little story is, I still don't see how Xander fits into this," Tony said into the silence that had descended upon them after Ziva's speech.

Gibbs glared at Tony before looking back at Ziva. "What did your contact say? About Xander?"

"That he's working with the Champion of Light."

--

_A/N: It took me a while to get the information Ziva received from the informant and through her background to work for me, so I hope it works for you too. If you find any obvious problems with it, please point them out and I can fix it. After all, most of it comes from rumours and they are not necessarily 100% correct, right? _


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Tony snorted before leaning forward to smell Ziva's breath. "Are you sure you aren't drunk?"

The slap at the back of his head was answer enough. At least now he knew what Gibbs thought. Sort of anyway. Basically, Gibbs wasn't dismissing Ziva's story right away but was at least thinking about it. "Sorry, Boss. It's just ... it just sounds like something out of a movie!"

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "And you never reference movies in relation to our cases?"

"Point taken." Tony wasn't stupid and he'd known Gibbs long enough to know he wouldn't just believe anything he was told. If he at least thought about the existence of the supernatural being a possibility, then Gibbs had probably some kind of evidence he needed to reconsider. Therefore he would listen to the evidence and try to be unbiased as well. No matter how hard it would be.

Gibbs gave a curt nod. "Good."

A few minutes later Tony and Ziva followed their boss into the morgue. And Tony was pretty sure what this was about. If anyone knew about the weird, then it was Ducky. Sure enough, Gibbs went straight up to their ME. "Ducky, do you have a minute?"

"Sure. Although I have to admit that I do not have any new information for you." Ducky took of his gloves as he walked over to the agents. "What can I do for you?"

"Ziva," Gibbs said matter of fact, looking at her expectantly. Ziva nodded and quickly retold her story.

"Ah, so you want to know if I have ever come across something similar, right?" Not expecting an answer, it was a nothing more than a rhetorical question after all, he continued, "Now that you mention it, there might have been a case or two like this." Brows furrowed, Ducky muttered to himself something unintelligible. Nodding to himself, as if coming to some kind of conclusion, he said out loud, "There was this one time in 1990, the victim died of exsanguination and had foreign blood in its mouth - and vanished out of my morgue. The body was still there when I left but when I returned from lunch an hour later, it was gone."

"Maybe you had a new assistant too?" Tony asked helpfully.

"No, I didn't." Ducky looked at the agents expectantly before continuing, "However, I came across a young woman, a girl, really, on my way back. Now that I think of it, she could only have come out of the morgue. There was nothing else down there."

"You think she was one of the young women from Ziva's story," Gibbs stated rather than asked.

"I never gave her much thought. But now that I think about it I'd say that she moved ... like a predator. Not like any young woman I've ever met. I mean, in contrast to her Ziva moves rather clumsily," Ducky said thoughtfully. "Jethro, may I ask why we are suddenly conversing about the supernatural?"

Ziva looked at Gibbs, silently asking how he wanted to handle this. Receiving a tiny nod, she said, "One of my contacts told me that Xander is working with the Champion of Light."

"Why would your contacts talk about Abby's brother?" Chuckling to himself, Ducky answered his own question. "Forgive my ignorance, Jethro. Naturally you'd have a look at Xander's background. Did I mention he and a friend came by to visit Abby and took her to lunch?"

"A friend?"

"I believe Abby has met her before. She introduced Willow as Xander's best friend from kindergarten. I assume it is the same Willow Xander mention when we first met in the hotel."

"Willow? She's here?" Ziva's eyes opened wide before she got herself back under control. Feeling the attention of everyone in the room had returned to her, she quickly explained, "When I started my enquiries on Xander and Sunnydale I either got nothing or a sudden dial tone. The one contact that was still speaking to me audibly gulped when I mentioned Willow and then he hung up as well."

"You don't think-?"

"-she's the Champion of Light?" Ziva finished Tony's question.

"No." Ducky shook his head. "At least I don't believe so. She isn't a predator."

Gibbs nodded and turned towards the exit. "Thanks, Ducky. Ziva, DiNozzo, let's go and meet Willow."

--

Abby was working away while Willow and Xander where talking quietly in her office. Abby and Xander were supposed to meet Detectives Cirsky and Doe in less than an hour, so they had figured it'd be much easier for him to stay here and wait. And because they could hardly leave Willow alone, Abby had secured a visitor's pass for her as well.

Besides, that way Xander was less likely to touch anything he shouldn't. Something, at least according to Willow's stories, he hadn't grown out of. It hadn't helped that Xander hadn't denied it either but had rather shrugged his shoulders and claimed that touching stuff he shouldn't was one of his more endearing sides. It was part of who he was.

Abby was entering the newest results into the proper file when Gibbs entered. "One of these days you _really_ have to tell me how you always know when I've got something for you!"

Gibbs swore inwardly but asked for the evidence. He'd already seen Xander and a redhead, presumably Willow, in Abby's office but could hardly tell Abby that's who they were here for in the first place. So he listened to Abby rattle on about their victim, firmly pushing his thoughts about Xander to the back of his mind and concentrating on their actual case. However, he couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with the so-called Champion of Light. Or if she was indeed more than just a story.

"Good work Abby. Have you told McGee yet?"

Abby pressed a few keys on her keyboard. "I've just emailed him the report."

Smiling brightly, she walked over to Tony. Arms akimbo, she let her eyes wander over him slowly. Just as she reached a certain part of his anatomy, she stuck her bottom lip out and hummed to herself. She let her eyes linger for another moment before having them continue on their downward journey - and letting them return in a just as leisurely pace.

"What?" Tony asked irritated, looking down at himself to see if something was off.

Abby patted his arm reassuringly. "Don't worry, Tony. It happens to the best of us."

Inside Abby's office Xander and Willow where hiding behind her monitor, trying their hardest to stifle their laughter. This particular 'attack' had been Xander's idea, pointing out how easy men can be rattled when it comes to anything connected to their manhood. And, how sometimes, a look could speak more than a thousand words.

Gibbs smirked and nodded towards Abby's office. "Are you going to introduce your new friend to us or what?"

Abby eyes grew wide - Gibbs was standing with his back to her office after all - before she returned Gibbs' smirk. "You're not looking for a new wife, right? 'Cause Willow would be so wrong for you!"

Insider her office, Xander and Willow looked at each other in shock before Willow started to giggle. "His ex-wives were all redheads," she whispered.

"Ah! Come on, let's say hi," Xander whispered in return before leading the way out of the office. "Hey, how's the case going?" he asked casually while watching Willow repeat Abby's earlier scrutinizing of Tony's body. Xander was impressed he was only twitching slightly. Well, he could change that. Xander threw a companionable arm over Tony's shoulder and stage-whispered, "Don't worry. These things happen. If you wanna talk about it, Abby knows where to find me."

Tony moved to hide behind Abby. Remembering she was the one who started this in the first place, he quickly changed position and walked around the table to put something between him and the crazy people on the other side. "There's nothing wrong with me! Ziva, tell them!"

"Don't worry, Tony. There's nothing to see," she replied dutifully.

"Thank you!" Tony grinned until he realised that you could read Ziva's reply either way. Sure enough, Xander, Willow, Abby and Ziva started laughing at him.

"DiNozzo, stop playing!" Gibbs said and Tony was pretty sure he was laughing at him too.

Narrowing his eyes at Xander, who unfortunately only found it more reason to laugh at him, Tony growled quietly before turning to Willow and putting on his most charming smile. "Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. You can call me Tony."

"Willow Rosenberg." Willow shook his hand and Abby quickly introduced everyone else to her. Ziva was squeezing her hand harder than was necessary but Willow was used to that and asked if she'd spinach for lunch. After explaining the reference to Ziva, Tony grinned at Willow and asked, "So, how long have you known Abby?"

"Feels like forever," Willow replied with a genuine smile on her face.

"When did you arrive?" Gibbs asked, causing Abby to frown at him. But Willow just shrugged her shoulders and answered honestly, "Xander's one of my best friends. I just wanted to make sure he was okay after what happened. Besides, I haven't seen Abby for ages and figured this would be a great opportunity to see her again. Oh! But that doesn't mean I'm happy Xander and Abby got drugged and therefore giving me an excuse to come. Oh no! I was thinking about surprising Abby and Xander anyway. Cause, have I mentioned I haven't seen Abby for ages? And Xander mentioned some new tattoos and I really wanted to have a look at them as well, especially as I've been thinking about maybe getting one myself. By the way, I _love_ the spider tattoo, Abby! Then again, I don't really like needles and I might faint and that would so be not good. Also, I can't decide on what motif I'd want and where to put it and I figured Abby could maybe help me with that. I was thinking about asking Faith but I don't think that would have worked out. So Abby it was. And Xander also told me all about Abby's computers, well, he mention lots of monitors running simultaneously and lots of blinking lights and I remember tinkering with Xander's remote controlled car with Abby and thought maybe we could talk about some programs I'm designing to use for work and-"

Xander put his hands on her shoulders, their foreheads almost touching. "Breathe."

Willow closed her mouth mid-speech before opening it again to take a deep breath, quickly followed by another one. "Thanks." Smiling sheepishly, she looked at the astonished faces scattered around the room. "Sorry. I tend to babble when I get excited. And I'm really excited now. I mean, look at all the cool equipment in here! Do you have any idea what I-"

"Willow!" Xander's voice wasn't particularly loud yet it left no doubt that he meant business.

Tony leaned closer to Ziva, whispering, "Is it just me or is she worse than Abby?"

"Never thought I'd say this, but she _is_ worse," Ziva said with a slight shudder.

"I agree," Xander said from behind them, making both of them jump in surprise.

"Huh? Weren't you just over there?" Tony asked in confusion.

"Yup. Figured being here would be more fun, though," Xander replied happily. Holding up a Caf-Pow, he added, "Besides, I needed to get this away from Willow. Caf-Pow and Willow are two very non-mixy things."

Willow, having just noticed that her Caf-Pow had vanished from the bench behind her, crossed her arms in front of her in a pout. "That's so not fair!"

"Sorry, Wills. I'm just trying to help here. Caf-Pow is bad for you. Bad as in _'It shall become our secret weapon in certain situations. Muhahahahahahahahaha!'_-bad."

Willow narrowed her eyes at him before asking, "Does a Star Wars marathon with Andrew count as a bad enough situation to warrant a Caf-Pow?"

Xander almost choked at the thought. Still chuckling, he said, "Just make sure I'm far, far away. And have someone else record it. I so wanna see that - from a very safe distance."

Gibbs shook his head in disbelief. These two kids, because that's really what they were, had seasoned Mossad agents quiver in their boots? Just what the hell has this world come to? And he had to agree with Ducky, even if there was a so called Champion of Light, he didn't think it was Willow. She was far too ... innocent. Then again, Xander gave off the same vibe most of the time and only if you looked close enough - and at the right time - could you see something else in his demeanour.

Gibbs sighed. It was time he had a little chat with him.

Abby, still in awe of Willow's babble feast, absently picked up her ringing phone. It only took a couple of seconds before the expression on her face changed. It took even less time for everyone else in the room to gather around her in silent support.

"The detectives are upstairs and want to talk to us," she said as soon as she'd put the phone down again.

--

_A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, they keep my muses happy! Besides, I'm on a run, keeping up with weekly updates and all that! Ha! Muses had fun with this chapter even if it meant me chuckling away in the middle of a cafe - because I had fun too. LOL. And I've finally decided (read: my muses told me) that there'll be a serious conversation between Gibbs and Xander - and I'm actually looking forward to writing it. _


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Am I correct to assume that Special Agent Gibbs has informed you that we have some suspects pertaining to your case in our custody?" Detective Cirsky asked after they'd exchanged all the necessary pleasantries at the beginning of their meeting.

Xander nodded while Abby looked up in alarm, her pigtails moving about at the quick movement. "They haven't suddenly decided to deny everything again, right?"

"No," the detective said reassuringly, "quite the contrary, actually. They've admitted to even more cases than we would have been able to connect them to."

"Uh, that doesn't sound normal, does it?" Abby asked worriedly. "I mean, I've never heard of a suspect admitting to more than they absolutely have to! Not even with Gibbs around, and he's _really_ scary in interrogation! They aren't going to suddenly claim they were threatened into admitting their crimes, are they?"

"We've certainly given them no reason to do so," Detective Cirsky said.

"Although we're sure that they _are_ scared to death," Detective Doe added. Looking first at Abby, then at Xander, he continued, "You don't happen to have any idea as to _why_ they're so scared? Or maybe how they ended up like that?"

Xander and Abby looked at the pictures Detective Doe had spread out in front of them upon the last question. The first showed the five suspects bound to the outside of a fire escape, each standing on the shoulders of the person below - with the bottom one literally hanging 13 feet or so up in the air. All the other pictures where close ups of the different criminals and the way they were bound to the fire escape. Xander couldn't help but chuckle. Faith, Vi and Lisa had told him just what exactly they had done to the guys, although they hadn't had the time to take extensive pictures, seeing how they had wanted to go undetected. Looking up he only said one word. "Creative."

Abby scrutinised one of the close-ups, turning it left then right and even upside down to take in even the tiniest detail. "How did they get up there? Short of someone being strong enough to actually hold the guys in position while another person binds him to the fire escape they'd have needed a hydraulic platform or something similar. Besides, there are five guys on the fire escape so it would have taken quite a while to get them into position - unless you have at least ten people against them. But wouldn't they have screamed? Wouldn't somebody have heard them?" Abby looked up sheepishly. "Sorry, but this is just so weird."

Detective Cirsky smiled. "I agree. And we're just as interested in the answers to your questions as you are. Do you have any idea who could have done that?"

Abby shook her head. She knew Gibbs could be overprotective when it came to her safety but she was with him last night. Besides, if it had been him, the criminals wouldn't have ended up the way they had. Tony, on the other hand, could be rather inventive at times. But again, she didn't see how he could have pulled it off. Even if he had Ziva's help. _And_ McGee's.

"Mr. Harris?" Detective Doe asked pointedly. "Maybe you could shed some light on this?"

"Well, I certainly would have loved to see them like this." Xander shrugged his shoulders casually and easily returned Detective Doe's glare. "But, alas, I haven't. Seen them, that is. Though if you ever catch whoever did this, make sure to tell them I really appreciated their creativity."

Doe eventually backed down and turned his eyes to Abby. "I'm sorry to have to ask this, but we'd appreciate if you could tell us where you were last night."

"Why? You don't think we had anything to do with it, do you?" Abby asked flabbergasted. "That's ridiculous!"

"It's simply part of the investigation," Detective Cirsky said in a calming voice. "We just want to make sure we know all the details before charging the suspects. After all, nobody wants them to avoid jail because we haven't done everything by the book, right?"

Xander tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at Detective Doe. "Something tells me you know exactly where I was last night."

"I thought you were with Willow?" Abby asked her brother.

"I was. We met at my hotel and Wills wanted to go dancing. So we've googled for night-clubs in the area, choosing one as far away from the one we went to as possible. We got there by eleven, had some drinks, danced and left around three. Took a taxi to my hotel and went to bed," Xander explained easily.

"You were at that club?" Abby pointed at the pictures on the table and Xander winced at the high-pitched tone breaking through her voice.

"Naw, another one." Xander patted her arm before adding in mock-surprise, "Who'd have thought there're more than a couple of night-clubs in the area? In Sunnydale we had the Bronze and ... nothing else."

"Yet you still managed to end up in one of the three clubs that had been hit worst by this gang," Detective Doe commented dryly.

Xander looked at him in shock. Sunnydale had been an amazing acting school, so putting on a shocked expression was almost too easy for him. "I did?"

"Xander!" Abby slapped him, hard.

Rubbing his chest where she had hit him, he said, "Come on, Abs. After our little adventure Willow and I were totally careful. I swear!" Although he could hardly tell her that, apart from Willow making sure nobody could add something to their drinks without setting off a helluva lot of alarms, they also had a personal escort consisting of Kennedy and two other slayers.

After answering a few more questions, including Abby telling them where she had spent the night, successfully squashing another theory of Detective Doe, neither Abby nor Xander were overly sorry to see the back of the two detectives.

Xander sighed when he and Abby entered the bullpen. "Twinkie. I could really do with a Twinkie right now."

"Oh, _oh_!" Abby literally jumped up before rushing over to Gibbs' desk. "Twinkies! I need Twinkies!"

Gibbs raised his eyebrows but quickly rolled out of the way of his favourite Goth, giving her free reign over his desk. "Bottom drawer."

"Bottom drawer, bottom drawer," she mumbled while using almost excessive force to pull it open. "Ha!" Abby held up an old pack of Twinkies as if it was her most valuable possession. "Twinkies." Grinning widely, she handed the rumbled looking pack over to her brother.

"Sweet!" He barely had opened the pack before the first one vanished into his mouth. He closed his good eye and moaned in pleasure. "Best treat ever!"

"What are these Twinkies?" Ziva asked, walking over to where Xander was standing. Her coming up from his blind side didn't stop him from moving the bag out of her way just as she was reaching for it.

"Mine."

Giggling, Willow came over as well. "Rule number ... something: Never get between Xander and his Twinkies. Others have tried and failed miserably."

"You have rules?" Abby looked at her in awe. "Like Gibbs' rule number one _'never screw over your partner'_ rules?"

Willow briefly glanced over to Xander and he quickly answered, "Yup. We've got a whole bunch of them. Never get between Xander and his Twinkies. Never get between Xander and his pizza. Never get between anyone and their food, actually."

Gibbs, having noticed the quick exchanged, filed this away as well.

"So what's your rule number one then?" Tony asked eagerly.

Xander shrugged his shoulder. "Doesn't matter."

Yes, he would definitely ask Xander about their rules, Gibbs thought.

"Boss!" McGee stood up, excitedly pointing towards their main screen that suddenly came to life. "I've found a possible suspect."

"Didn't you say your search program would take at least a couple of hours to start giving out names?" Tony asked.

"Yes, I did." McGee said smugly. "That was before Willow showed me how I could improve it. She's a genius!"

Blushing brightly, Willow shrugged her shoulders. "I just like to tinker with search algorithms. That's all."

"Let me see." Abby pushed McGee aside and started typing. "That's brilliant! I never thought of doing it that way!"

"That's our Willow," Xander said, hugging Willow to his side.

Tony smiled brilliantly at Willow. "I like smart woman."

Willow returned his smile before replying sweetly, "Me too."

McGee managed to choke on his own coffee, while everyone else was simply smirking at Tony.

"First transvestites, now lesbians?" Abby said far too innocently, "My dear Tony, I think we need to have a long, long conversation."

"You hit on a transvestite?" Xander chuckled.

McGee had recovered enough to put in his own two cents. "He didn't just hit on him."

"As much as I love this conversation," Gibbs said loudly, "We have a suspect to bring in. Tony, Ziva, you're with me. McGee, call if you get more names."

"Yes, Boss."

"Thanks for your help, Miss Rosenberg." Gibbs nodded his head in thanks before grabbing his stuff and moving towards the elevator.

--

"Impressions?"

"I _knew_ she was gay!" Tony said immediately - and earned himself a slap to the back of his head just as quickly.

"DiNozzo! I wanted to know if she could be the Champion of Light."

"Sorry, Boss. Having a bad day." Tony took a deep breath to collect his thoughts. "Right. Willow. She doesn't strike me as the fighting type. And that's what the Champion of Light does, right? She fights? However, if said Champion was to have a team, you know, for collecting intel and such things, then she'd be their McGee. And their Abby, I guess."

"I agree," Ziva said while they made their way to the parking lot. "Willow was offered a job with a leading software company while she was still in high school. And she declined. Also, she got offered places at several Ivy League universities as well as Oxford but again declined and ended up staying in Sunnydale, attending UC Sunnydale."

"How?" Tony asked in astonishment. He'd been with Ziva the entire time since they'd met Willow in Abby's lab. Realisation dawning, he shook his head at himself. "Spent too much time flirting, not enough time listening."

Instead of slapping him again, as DiNozzo had clearly expected, Gibbs only gave a curt nod. There was no need in knocking some sense into DiNozzo when he'd already realised his mistake. And one thing Gibbs was sure of, his agent would learn from it. "So we believe they're on the support team."

"Yes." Ziva said with confidence.

"Is there something else you want to share?" Gibbs asked curiously.

"I just realised something else about Xander." Ziva said with a shrug of her shoulders before elaborating. "Men often underestimate my abilities. They think they are taller, heavier and can therefore easily overpower me. However, I never got that vibe from Xander. If anything, he's treating me with much more respect than he does Tony right from the moment we've met."

Tony was going to protest but then he thought about it. "Damn. I think you're right. He must-" He was interrupted by his cell phone ringing. A quick look at the caller ID told him he'd better answer. "Informant," he explained before answering the phone. The call lasted several minutes and was, much to Ziva's annoyance, rather one sided. Tony put his phone away just as they reached their destination. "That was an old friend from Baltimore PD. He recently met someone who had worked for Sunnydale PD. Long story short, our assumption seems to be right. Xander and Willow work with or for the Champion of Light."

"I want details after this is over," Gibbs said while getting out of the car. In fact, he wanted the details now, but they had to catch a possible serial killer first.

--

It was past midnight before Gibbs allowed himself the next break.

They had been lucky, catching their suspect at home without too much resistance - thanks to one of the stranger things he'd come across in his long career. They had been careful in their approach, seeing how Martin Fox had been described as a 6 foot 5, 250 pound mountain of muscle. He had gone around the back while Ziva and Tony had taken the front door. Neither of them had been surprised when Fox hadn't answered the door upon their knock.

What had taken them by surprise, though, was to find him in a foetal position on the floor, whimpering and the tell-tale signs of being violently sick next to him. They had arrested him without any resistance before the paramedics arrived. Their first guess was a violent allergic reaction to something, quite possible to whatever he had eaten last.

With Fox out of the picture they had taken a closer look around his house and it hadn't taken them long to find the evidence they'd needed. They had found several livers, or parts thereof, in the freezer and sent them straight off to Ducky. I hadn't taken very long for their ME to verify their human origin and point out the bite marks on some of them.

A short time later DiNozzo had called from the hospital, telling them that Fox had indeed suffered an allergic reaction. As soon as he had mentioned Fox' reaction to penicillin, Ducky had gone through his notes and had made the connection the hospital couldn't - how Fox had been exposed to penicillin in the first place. As it had turned out, his last victim - the victim that had NCIS brought into the game to start with - had been on antibiotics at the time of his death. By eating parts of his raw liver, Fox had also ingested some penicillin - and his body had reacted to it.

Ducky had only been able to give them an estimate of how many different donors they were talking, seeing how the livers had been cut up in portion sizes. But he was certain there had to be at least 10 different victims. After that revelation Abby had taken samples of every piece they'd found in the freezer and started to assemble the DNA profile of each of them. Not only would it aid them in getting an actual number of victims but also be crucial in identifying them.

But Abby had gone home for the night now. As had Ducky. However, with McGee finding the link between the victims and basically running their investigation on his own, Gibbs wasn't as up to date on the details as he should have been. Therefore he had McGee print out everything he'd assembled so far before sending the agent home. Now he was sitting at his desk, poring over the data. The bullpen was dimly lit and apart from his only two other desks were occupied.

Reaching for his coffee - and realising it was empty - Gibbs threw the paper cup away and closed the files in front of him. "Time to go home."

Ziva and Tony looked up from their respective desks, exchanged a look before concentration on their boss. Seeing the look of impatience on his face, they jumped up simultaneously and grabbed their stuff. Neither of them was surprised when they ended up in a small diner instead of their respective homes.

"Tell me what you've got," Gibbs said even before they'd sat down. He didn't need to explain what he'd meant either and Tony started as soon as the waitress had taken their orders.

"The officer working at Sunnydale PD remembered the name Xander Harris. About seven years ago, a number of names started to repeatedly appear on police reports. Xander Harris was amongst them. As were Willow Rosenberg and a Buffy Summers. And that's only the ones he mentioned unprompted. They'd been victims, witnesses and even suspects in a number of cases. Most at Sunnydale PD considered them nothing but criminals. Our guy, however, had a closer look at the big picture." Tony stopped and waited for the reactions.

"DiNozzo, I'm not getting any younger!"

"Right. We already knew that Sunnydale had an unusual high crime rate. However, it was even higher until a bit over seven years ago when it started to drop significantly. Literally just when Xander's and his friends' names started to appear in the police reports as well. Coincidence? I think not."

--

_A/N: Great. I let He-Muse out of my sight for a minute and he comes up with stuff like that! I'm kinda scared to see what he'll do with the Xander and Gibbs meet (should be up next)... Anyway, thanks again for all the reviews! They keep my muses talking to me and my fingers typing._


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Gibbs was frustrated. He had to finish off their case when all he wanted to do was find a quiet corner and have a very long, very detailed conversation with Abby's brother. However, work came first so he pushed thoughts about Harris to the back of his mind in order to give the case all the attention it deserved.

He only allowed himself short breaks from work which he used to get some entertainment by glaring down whoever walked passed his desk. He'd just caused another agent to run off with the tail between his legs when Abby appeared in front of him.

"Gibbs! Where were you? I've had the results for ten minutes now and you didn't show up downstairs! Are you ill? Maybe you're coming down with something?" Abby waved the folder in her hand while she walked up and down in front of his desk.

Leaning back in his chair, Gibbs smiled. Abby was like a daughter to him and seeing her happy made him happy as well. And if there was something to say about Harris it was that Abby was certainly enjoying herself since he had turned up unannounced. "I'm fine. Now, I assume these are the test results from our livers?"

"Yes! I've finished the DNA analysis and came up with seventeen different profiles. Thirteen are matches to the cases McGee dug up or to missing persons, four are unknown." Abby stopped and looked expectantly at Gibbs.

"But?" he prompted dutifully.

"Aha! But two of the unknown samples are related to the suspect. Closely related," Abby said triumphantly. "They are-"

"His parents?"

"His parents. Gibbs! How'd you know?" Abby gave him the folder and stood behind him so she could read over his shoulder.

"Background check. Two years ago, his parents sold the house, bought a new travel trailer and went on a trip around North America. Funnily, though, nobody ever heard from them since. No postcards to the neighbours, no credit card use, nothing."

The elevator doors opened and revealed DiNozzo, carrying several cups of coffee. Gibbs accepted his and waved the folder in DiNozzo's face. "Abby got the DNA results."

"I've sent you an email, Tony," Abby said. Patting Gibbs' shoulder, she added, "But I figured you'd prefer the paper version."

Gibbs smirked. "Thanks. Now for the remaining two unknown samples, can you find out how long they've been stored in the freezer?"

"Ha! I knew you'd ask that." Abby gave Gibbs a smug look. "And I'm working on it."

Gibbs nodded, then slowly raised his eyebrows. "Right." Abby turned on the spot. "I'm working on it _right now_."

Tony watched Abby leave and slowly made his way to his desk.

"Any slower and you'll walk backwards," Gibbs growled. "I want the case closed."

"Yes, Boss."

--

"So, what's the word?" Xander slid into the booth next to Willow, carefully sliding a huge mug of hot chocolate towards her.

Willow stopped typing and looked up from her laptop. "Ziva and Tony have done some more digging. Calling in favours, stuff like that."

"What about McGee? I got the impression that, next to Abby, he was their computer whiz?"

"He didn't do any checks on you. He's been pretty busy with their last case. And can I just say '_eww'_?" Willow visibly shuddered, then took a big sip of her hot chocolate.

"Do I wanna know?" Xander asked half-heartedly.

"Not really. Besides, they've found the baddy. And he isn't one of ours."

"Good." Xander tilted his head and followed the direction Willow was looking in and started to chuckle. "Jealous?"

Willow turned back in alarm. "Jealous? Who, me? Never! I mean, just because they're having the biggest slice of chocolate cake I've ever seen doesn't mean I'm jealous. Oh no. Not me! I'm not interested at all. Nope."

Xander sighed theatrically. "That's a shame, really. Guess I have to eat both our slices then."

Willow's eyes opened comically wide when, as if on cue, a waitress put two slices in front of them. Squealing in delight, she gave Xander a quick kiss on the cheek before digging in. They spent the next few minutes in silence as they enjoyed the flavours exploding on their tongues.

Halfway through her slice, Willow moaned and said, "Goddess. I'm forever in Abby's debt!"

"I know." Xander sighed just as happily. "Now, when do you think they'll make a move?"

"Gibbs?" Willow asked without expecting an answer. "They've solved their current case. Probably need to tie up some loose ends and the like but my guess would be soon."

"Can't wait." Xander smiled lopsidedly. "Now, did _you_ dig up anything interesting?"

Willow moved her laptop so Xander could have a look at the screen. Pulling up one file after another, they went through the material together. By the time they had finished, their chocolate cakes were long gone as well. Finally sure that he had memorised all the important facts, Xander rubbed his hands together in glee. "Now that's my kind of dirt in there. You know, I'm kinda looking forward to the conversation."

"Don't get too cocky," Willow warned.

Xander slung his arm around Willow's shoulder. "Don't worry. I've learned my lesson. Now let's see if we can't have a little fun with NCIS' finest."

--

"What are you grinning at, McGeek?" Tony asked in irritation. They all tried to finish the case, which included the tedious updating of files and combining of collected data but for the last hour or so McGee had had a smug grin on his face. It didn't help that Tony had run out of coffee a while ago.

"Nothing."

Ziva followed Tony's example and walked over to McGee's desk. Leaning over his other shoulder, she looked at the screen and couldn't see anything but work. "Tony's right. You seem excited about something."

"Aha!" Tony shared a look with Ziva and grinned. Moving around and sitting down onto the edge of the desk, he added, "He has a date. Probably with a big hairy guy calling himself nerd-girl31 or something, but it's a date nevertheless."

"Don't you mean hotjugs24?" McGee asked far too innocently. Turning to Ziva, he added rather smugly, "Tony met a, and I quote, nice girl online once."

"Hotjugs24?" Ziva asked. McGee's grin grew as he nodded. "Let me guess, old, fat and male?"

Tony huffed. "We were talking about McGee, remember?"

Ziva laughed. "Sure. At least McGee would have checked out hotjugs24 before getting involved."

"Why, thank you, Ziva!"

"You're welcome." She smiled sweetly and leaned closer, clearly invading his personal space.

McGee sighed. "But you haven't forgotten about your question, right?"

"You're a smart guy."

Sighing again, he shrugged his shoulders. "Abby has invited me over to play an online game. Willow is there as well and apparently she's pretty good at it."

"You're spending the evening with Abby and Willow? Alone?" Tony asked with a tiny note of respect in his voice. "Not bad, McGeek. Not bad at all."

"And if you don't go back to work, you'll spent the whole night right here," Gibbs growled from behind his computer. He really, really hated that machine. The only reason he wasn't up and annoying anyone coming close to him was the prospect of catching Xander on his own. His eyes locked with DiNozzo's and it didn't take long for the younger agent to catch on. Giving a tiny nod, DiNozzo went back to his desk. And Ziva quickly followed his example.

--

Xander was bored. Willow was at his sister's place, enjoying some quality time in front of her laptop while he was sitting in his hotel room, waiting for a knock on the door.

Of course, Gibbs would take his time to turn up. He was good. Xander couldn't quite decide if he did it on purpose, meaning he knew Xander was expecting him, or if there was some secret rule that only allowed unofficial interrogations to happen at certain times at night. In either case, Xander had had enough. Grabbing his leather coat and room keys, he left the hotel for a little stroll around the good ol' neighbourhood.

Hands in his coat pockets, Xander enjoyed his walk. He let his mind wander, though a small part of it was always checking his surroundings for possible threats. Therefore he wasn't taken off-guard when Gibbs suddenly appeared at his side. "Nice night for a walk."

If Gibbs was surprised by Xander's easy acceptance of his presence, he didn't show it. Instead, he adjusted his pace so it would match Xander's. As of Xander's comment, well, it was cold and the clouds couldn't quite decide if they should dump rain or snow on the people below. Yet there was only one answer to his casual question. "Yes."

Xander could almost feel Gibbs' need for answers. However, he wasn't going to make it easy for the older man. Where would be the fun in that? So he kept walking, waiting for Gibbs to make the next move. And he had to give it to him, Gibbs took his time.

But as soon as they entered the nearby park, Gibbs made his move. "How did you do it?"

"How did I do _what_?" Xander asked, his face the picture of pure innocence.

There was a hint of a smile, but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. "Don't make me slap the back of your head."

Xander stopped in the middle of the path and laughed.

Gibbs might have anticipated different reactions to his statement, but this wasn't one of them. And it annoyed him to no end. Xander, meanwhile, held his hurting sides and tried his best to calm down. His breath came in short gasps, but he still managed a, "Won't help. Concussion is my middle name."

And within minutes, he'd taken Gibbs by surprise again. The older man didn't like it one bit. Neither the being taken by surprise, nor the implications of Xander's statement. "Harris?" he grinded out between clenched teeth.

"Huh?" It took a second for Xander to catch on, but when he did, he shook his head. "Naw. The old man stopped using me as a punching bag a long time ago. Guess he was good with the dishing out, but bad with the taking."

Sensing an opening, Gibbs asked, "Abby?"

"Never touched her. I think he really loved her while I was never more than an accident, an inconvenience to him. Abby was always much smarter than him, I never was. I mean, it took me years to figure out that what happened at my place wasn't exactly normal." Xander shrugged his shoulders. "Didn't help that mom lost interest in me pretty quick too. But it also meant they had no problems dropping me off at Abby's place during school holidays. That was always the highlight of my year."

Gibbs was silent for a while, shocked at the casualness with which Xander had spoken. "Why didn't you say something?"

"Like I said, it took a while for me to catch on. And when I did, I didn't care anymore, I guess. Besides, I knew the signs, knew when best to avoid him. And talking to social services in Sunnydale? Not a good idea."

"You could have told Abby."

"No, I couldn't." Xander shook his head. "I couldn't have done that to her. She'd have blamed herself for not noticing. I mean, by the time I figured out the abuse she was already in college. And it would have destroyed her believe in the good in men but that belief is a big part of what makes Abby Abby. I loved and still love her too much for that. Besides, I could handle it."

Gibbs looked at him with a new respect. Deep down he knew Xander was right. But that didn't make it okay. "You're not going to tell her, not even now." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"Neither will you."

Gibbs grunted in answer, but it was enough for Xander. Over the last few days he'd seen how much Abby meant to him. Gibbs wouldn't do anything to hurt his sister.

They continued in silence, the sounds of the evening traffic becoming less and less. Eventually, the only things they could hear were the gravel under their feet and the branches of the trees as they moved in the slight breeze. It even had stopped raining. And snowing. In times like these Xander really missed Sunnydale. Or at least its warm winters.

"You still haven't answered my question."

Xander smirked. "I know."

Gibbs grabbed Xander's arm, forcing him to stop. "I want answers."

"Don't we all?" Xander was still smiling, but the way he removed Gibbs' hand from his arm left no doubt about what he thought about Gibbs stopping him that way.

Their eyes locked in an age-old battle of wills. Gibbs was used to winning easily but the young man in front of him didn't seem to be impressed by his glare. Worse, Gibbs knew _he_ was the one with the questions. _He_ was the one who needed the answers. And, worst of all, he knew that Xander knew that too.

--

In the shadows, Tony's eyebrows rose higher and higher. He was hiding in a safe distance from Gibbs, yet he couldn't help but shudder at the mere thought of being in Xander's current position.

"Impressive, huh?" Ziva whispered from behind, making Tony jump slightly.

"You did that on purpose!" he answered just as quietly, embarrassed at being caught out by his team mate. Especially as he'd known she was right beside him from the start.

Ziva was still close enough for him to feel her breath against his ear when she asked, "Who do you think will win?"

"Gibbs, of course," he answered immediately - and was met with silence. "Ziva?"

"I'm not so sure. Xander doesn't appear impressed. And Gibbs is the one who wants answers, yes?"

Tony grumbled something unintelligible, yet he had to agree with Ziva's assessment.

--

Never losing eye-contact with Gibbs, Xander started to look, rather feel his way, through his diverse coat pockets. He frowned for a second before a huge smile appeared on his face. There was some rustling and moments later Xander shoved a Twinkie into his mouth.

"What the-?!" Gibbs looked at Abby's brother in utter astonishment.

Xander shrugged his shoulders. "What? All this staring and glaring made me hungry. Luckily I remembered the Twinkie I stashed in my coat earlier today." Tilting his head, he pulled out another one. "Want one?"

"No!" Gibbs threw his arms in the air. Sighing in frustration, clearly, he wouldn't get any answers unless Xander wanted to give them, Gibbs changed tactics and smiled. It was a bit forced, but at least it was a start. "Thanks."

Xander shrugged and devoured the second Twinkie just as quickly as the first. "How do _you_ think I did it? Not that I'm saying I did it but you asked, and you're big with the investigating. So I'm thinking you've got at least a theory. And I'm curious."

Gibbs opened his mouth to protest but closed it without uttering a word. Sighing, he started to walk again. "Somehow you scared the living daylights out of the barkeeper when you came with us to the bar. He'd never given us the surveillance footage without you there. My guess? You got your very own copy. You sent it off and called in the cavalry. You might not have been there to take out the guys who drugged you, but your friends were."

A twig being snapped in two was the only sound interrupting the following silence.

After a while, Gibbs continued, "Of course, the club's surveillance equipment at their back entranced malfunctioned about ten minutes before the thugs were found."

Xander scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Let me guess. Made in Cheapistan? A little nudge and they stopped working?"

"The cables were cut."

"Hm. Rats? They could have run up the drainpipe, you know?" Xander offered helpfully.

"Rats with _knives_?"

Xander nodded gravely. "I know. Rats nowadays aren't what they used to be. We're living in a harsh, harsh world."

"Fine." Gibbs felt the mother of all headaches rapidly approaching and figured giving in was less painful. Especially if he wanted to get some useful information out of Xander. "Rats with knives cut the cables."

"I sure would have loved to see them getting hang out to dry, though," Xander said wistfully.

Gibbs silently agreed. Another twig snapped in the background.

Xander caught Gibbs eyes and shook his head in amusement. "You'd think DiNozzo would have learned how to sneak around quietly by now." He waited for a second, then chuckled quietly. "And I bet the slap Ziva gave him for his efforts _really_ hurt."

Gibbs snorted, shaking his head in disbelief. Xander sure was full of surprises. He might even make a good investigator one day, if he ever went down that route, that is.

"Now, do you think we should give them a bit more privacy before calling them out?" Xander stage-whispered. "I mean, I don't wanna interrupt something, you know?"

Even before Gibbs could answer, DiNozzo stormed out of the bushes. "What do you mean, interrupt something?"

Xander patted his shoulder reassuringly, while Ziva joined them at a slower pace. "Well, Tony, has anybody ever told you about the birds and the bees?"

--

_A/N: Thanks for reviewing! I'm pretty sure He-Muse and She-Muse are sitting in a corner and laughing at me. I mean, I told them I'd like the conversation between Xander and Gibbs now (actually, I already wanted it in the last chapter) and what do they do? They take one look at the nice, straight highway leading there and, ignoring it, find a much longer route with lots of bends (and coffee house to stop for anything containing chocolate)... *sigh* Writing is such hard work. LOL._


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Tony was still speechless following Xander's latest question. And if he weren't so annoyed at Xander for getting to him, again, he might have been proud of Abby's little brother. He might not look like it, but Xander had a quick mind. Something, Tony suddenly realised, he was too easy to dismiss because of Xander's appearance! Slapping himself mentally for being such a moron, he promised himself to give Xander the credit he deserved.

"How did you know we were there?" Tony asked, his voice having lost the last bit of superiority. Instead, it had been replaced with honest curiosity.

"Because there's always someone or something hiding in the bushes," Xander said. He could feel the others' focus on him intensify to a degree that hadn't been there before. So he smiled. "You know, to do the birds and the bees thing?"

This time Gibbs growled. His patience was running out and it was running out quickly. Xander, however, continued to stroll down the path. Although he had to bite the inside of his cheeks to keep from laughing out loud. But he also knew he couldn't go on forever.

"Xander."

And it seemed that forever had ended right now. He'd heard that tone of voice before, even though not from Gibbs, but the implications were clear. There was no more time for playing. Stopping, he turned to the older man. "What do you know, or _think_ you know?"

And there was the Gibbs glare again. Instead of entering another glaring contest Xander just sighed and shook his head before he started to walk again. He heard Gibbs swearing quietly before there was a whispered conversation between the agents.

It was a couple of minutes before they caught up with him again. "Xander, wait."

Turning, he looked at Gibbs expectantly. Even though he had a pretty good idea what Gibbs and the others knew, he wasn't going to tell them anything on the pure assumption they were close to discovering the truth anyway.

"The Champion of Light." Gibbs said, nothing more, nothing less.

"Huh? We're talking electricians now?" Xander replied flippantly - and promptly found himself on the receiving end of one of Gibbs head-slaps.

There was a collective holding of breaths and even Gibbs looked surprised by his actions for a second or two. A moment later Xander started to chuckle which quickly turned into full blown laughter. "Abby so owes me twenty bucks now!"

"_What_?"

Xander grinned. "She said you'd never head slap me. I said I could get you to do it."

Gibbs shook his head in disbelief. "You're ... you're nuts!"

"Thanks!" Xander rubbed his hands together as he gave an evil chuckle.

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "I think we all know the Champion of Light isn't another name for electricians."

"Would be a cool company name, though," Xander interjected.

"Do you want me to slap you again?"

Xander grinned but shook his head. "Naw, don't wanna get you into trouble."

Gibbs frowned at that but chose to ignore the comment. Otherwise they'd never get the answers they'd been coming for in the first place. Xander sure knew how to change topic over and over again. "Ziva."

"Right." Ziva nodded. "The Champion of Light. There are stories that the supernatural is more than just a myth. At Mossad we've been trained to never dismiss anything. If it looked like a vampire attack, then _maybe_ it was a vampire attack. We were told to inform our superiors of any unexplainable incidences and they'd take care of it."

"That ever happened?" Xander asked.

Ziva briefly locked eyes with Gibbs before answering. "Several times. In one of these events we were we told to abandon our mission immediately."

"Probably stepped on someone's feet. Still don't see a connection to your electrician with the fancy name."

"I've heard rumours. Others have too. And they all had something in common. Strange things happen, a girl or young woman appears, strange things stop, the girl vanishes. We believe she's called the Champion of Light."

"Nice story," Xander said casually. "Now, I might be wrong and my hair might be a bit deceiving, but I don't think I look like a girl."

Gibbs snorted, as did Tony. "No. But a little birdie told us you're working for her."

Xander ginned. "Really? That's so cool!"

"It is?" Tony asked.

"Yeah! I've never met a talking birdie."

"Are you doing it on purpose?" Gibbs asked, his voice laced with annoyance once more. "Taking everything literally?"

Xander raised his eyebrows. "Might save your life one day."

"Fine. Are you working for the Champion of Light?" Gibbs more or less growled.

"Yup."

"Yup?" Gibbs asked.

"What? You asked a question, I answered. I thought that's how it's supposed to work." Xander said.

"So the supernatural is real?" Tony asked, eager to learn more. "There really are vampires?"

"And werewolves, demons and all the other creatures you feared as a child." Xander shrugged his shoulders again. "In fact, most fairy tales are derivations of the truth." And then he gave them a short introduction to '_The universe is older than you think_', finishing with, "So basically demons are real and the Champion of Light fights the baddies, making sure we all can sleep in peace and ignorance."

Once again the rustling of the tree branches moving in the wind was the only sound interrupting the silence that had descended upon them.

"What about the Champion? Is it always a girl? How's she chosen?" Gibbs asked after several minutes. Xander hadn't really told them anything about her.

There was a brief flash of anger in Xander's eyes before he answered. "She's chosen, given her gifts and sent off to fight evil. And before you ask, we don't know how."

"When? At what age? And what's her life expectancy?" Gibbs asked, not liking what he was hearing one bit.

Xander shook his head. "You don't want to know."

"But we could help!" he said angrily. "We've got a lot of resources at our hands."

"No you can't." The tone of Xander's voice told them even more than his words. "You don't know the rules. If you're lucky, you'll only get yourself killed. If not, you get others killed as well. Been there, done that, got the scars."

"But you are helping, aren't you?" Ziva asked. "Isn't that against everything you just told us?"

Xander sighed. "Okay, what do you know about Sunnydale?"

Tony was first to reply. "Small town, high crime rate, incompetent police department?"

Xander gave a small smile. "Yep, that's Sunnydale syndrome at its best for you. You wouldn't believe how many people died of barbeque fork accidents."

Upon a nod from Gibbs, Tony said, "It was even worse until about seven years ago. At about the same time your name started to appear frequently in police reports. As did Willow's and others."

The smile vanished from Xander's face. "I wasn't particularly popular in school, though I didn't mind because I had great friends. Willow, Jesse and I were blissfully unaware of the nightlife - until Jesse was turned into a vampire and tried to turn us too. After that we wanted to help." Xander shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose it's not so different from your job. Every time a new baddie comes to town we research it. You know, is the baddie really a bad, what does it want, how do we stop it, this kind of thing."

It still didn't sit right with him, but Gibbs let it slide for now. There were other questions he wanted answered first. "Why Sunndyale?"

"Ah! Now that's a good question!" Xander smiled wryly. "Good ol' Sunndyale was built on top of a Hellmouth. And yes, I mean that literally. The oogly-booglies were simply attracted by its unusual amount of supernatural energy. It must have felt like Disneyland to them."

"What did you do?" Gibbs asked eventually.

"Huh?"

"The sinkhole. It wasn't an earthquake, wasn't it?"

Xander shook his head. "Let's just say that this particular Hellmouth is closed."

"_This_ Hellmouth?"

"Welcome to my world. Sorry Tony. I'd love to say we've closed the Hellmouth and are now living in the happily ever after. We've learned the hard way that we can't defeat the baddies completely, that we can only keep them at bay. But that's life."

And, Gibbs thought, it explained all the inconsistencies in Xander's behaviour. He might look his age and often act it too, but inside, inside he was a battle hardened soldier.

--

Buffy was bored. She'd been following Xander and the NCIS agents for almost an hour now, listening to Xander's explanations. Though she had to admit he was doing a great job, telling them enough to satisfy their curiosity but still keeping a lot of information to himself.

They'd just started talking about Sunnydale and its unfortunate location on top of a Hellmouth when her ears picked up a noise to the left. Smiling, a sign of just how bored she really was, she went to investigate. She'd taken a good look at the park earlier and hadn't found much sign of the supernatural, so she figured Xander would be safe. Besides, it wasn't like it would take her more than a couple of seconds to reach him should the need arise. Xander was well aware of the power of a scream after all.

--

"Did you hear that?" Ziva asked and immediately everyone stopped walking and started listening. They definitely weren't alone anymore.

"Stay back," Gibbs whispered to Xander as they started to make their way towards the noise. Xander snorted and stayed where he was. Right by Gibbs' side. And when they turned the next corner, he almost laughed out loud.

There, in the middle of a grassy area off the path, was Buffy. The moon had found a way through the clouds and was providing some light. Buffy was currently helping someone to his feet, patting him down as she did so. "I'm so sorry! Really. I totally didn't see you. I mean, I was taking a quiet walk in the park and then I totally accidentally run into you."

Gibbs stopped to take in the picture. Then Xander swore quietly next to him and started moved to the right. Seeing what Xander had seen, he motioned for Tony to follow Abby's brother while he and Ziva made their way to the other two people.

Meanwhile, Buffy kept dusting down the man's clothing. He grunted with each pat, seeing how Buffy wasn't particularly gentle with him. "But you really shouldn't walk alone in the dark. It's, like, totally dangerous. You might get mugged, or worse!"

And, after each sentence, she threw another weapon she'd taken off of him to the ground. There was a Ka-Bar knife, a smaller flick knife, a couple of brass knuckles and yet another knife, this time one of mini pocket variety.

Gibbs stared speechless at the small blond who was effortlessly holding up a guy who was probably twice her weight. By the scruff of his neck, at that. Now that he was close he could see that he was barely conscious, his knees buckling under him and an already impressive shiner starting to appear on his face. Gibbs blinked a couple of times to make sure he wasn't dreaming before a slow smile appeared on his face. "Need any help with him?"

Buffy frowned and looked at her cargo as if she'd just noticed him. Then she let her arm drop. As it was the one holding the guy up, he ended up in a groaning pile in front of her. A pile Buffy quickly stepped away from. "Uh, dunno? I was just, you know, out on a jog when he suddenly appeared in front of me. I, like, just fell over him and almost broke a nail!"

Gibbs looked pointedly at the two-inch heels on her boots. "Jogging?"

Buffy smiled brightly, showing off her new boots. "Puh-_lease_! It was either these beauties or a pair of ugly jogging shoes."

Ziva, who'd knelt down next to the slumped form on the ground to check him out, looked up. "He's unconscious. His nose is broken too."

"I already mentioned the totally accidentally running into him thing, right? 'Cause it was. Totally not my fault, I mean."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow and nodded towards the weapons.

"Holes in his pockets? Knives are sharp, right? Could've cut him. Good thing they only cut his pockets, right?"

Tony came jogging over. "Found a young woman. She's pretty beaten up but doesn't want to call the police. Xander's trying to convince her otherwise." He sighed. "Don't think he'll stand a chance, though."

"Maybe she needs a lift home?" Buffy suggested innocently. Tapping the guy on the ground, she added, "And I think he mentioned a date with the local police? We've got chatting a bit after I stumbled over him, you know?"

Gibbs studied her for a moment. Throwing a pair of hand-cuffs to Ziva, he said, "Show him the way. Tony, take the woman. Have her checked out. Maybe she'll change her mind."

"Uh, Boss?" Tony asked. "What about her?"

Buffy raised her eyebrows and, never losing eye-contact with him, lifted the thug who'd just regained conscious from the floor as if he were weightless. "She's continuing her walk in the park."

"Woah!" Tony grinned. "How did you do that?"

"DiNozzo. Hospital. Now."

Tony looked over at Ziva, who, to his surprise, was ready to follow Gibbs' orders without any question. Then he looked back at the big guy next to her, his battered face and a big grin appeared on his face. "Buffy."

She smirked before walking over to where Xander was still talking to the injured woman.

"She likes me," Tony whispered.

"Keep dreaming," Buffy called back, without even turning her head.

"How'd she-?"

"I'm going to find out." Gibbs said before following her.

"Yeah," Tony said to Ziva, "But I'm more interested to know if _we're_ going to find out too!"

--

_A/N: So, how does that work for you? Gibbs will get to question Buffy a bit more. Will he get answers, though? No idea. LOL. This is also turning out to be my shortest multi-chapter story I've written so far. There are a few chapters left, but I've already written most of the little scenes He-Muse and She-Muse played ping-pong with in my head..._


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Gibbs watched Xander and Buffy walking with their arms linked in front of him. They were talking quietly, though he understood only half of it. As in they were clearly talking in another language - or maybe he was just getting old and the English language had suddenly changed overnight.

Eventually he had enough. "Care to tell me what really happened back there?"

Buffy and Xander stopped and turned around. Gibbs almost stepped back when he saw Buffy's glare. She was good. Really good. Then she pulled a couple of bank notes from somewhere and handed one to Xander.

"You so owe me ten bucks!"

"_What_?" That wasn't what he'd expected. And Xander chuckling at him wasn't helping either. "She said you wouldn't even wait thirty seconds before stopping us. I gave you at least a minute."

"_Wha_-?" Gibbs shook his head in disbelief. He _was_ getting too old for this.

"We should go out together more often," Xander said, rubbing his hands together and giving an evil laugh. "You've made me thirty bucks already!"

Buffy growled. "I really should know better than to bet with you."

"I know." Xander grinned. He patted his pockets and gave a cry of triumph when he found what he'd been looking for. He slowly pulled out his cell phone and made a big show of dialling. He only said three words before ending the one-sided call. "You owe me."

Gibbs just shook his head while Buffy narrowed her eyes at Xander. A moment later, she started to stab him with her finger. "You. Bet. With. Dawn."

"She threatened my Twinkies! I had to protect those poor innocent souls."

Buffy crossed her arms in front of her and tapped her foot on the ground. "By betting with my little sister!?"

Xander shrugged his shoulders.

Gibbs sighed, shaking his head again. Or maybe he'd never stopped shaking it in the first place. It currently hurt too much for him to think too hard about it. Raising his arms helplessly, he asked in a resigned voice, "What was the bet about anyway?"

Xander cautiously stepped away from Buffy. "Dawn said I wouldn't get Buffy to bet with me again."

"Oh fer crying out loud! How old are you two? _Six_?"

Now both Xander and Buffy pouted. In unison, they turned around and started walking again.

Gibbs threw his arms up in frustration. It didn't help that _he_ was the one wanting answers. "Excuse my ignorance. You surely can't be older than _five_!"

--

"Why didn't you protest Gibbs' orders earlier?" Tony asked after he and Ziva met up again later. Even though the young woman hadn't changed her mind, the thug had been arrested anyway. There had been an open warrant out on him and the police officers had taken him from Ziva with open arms.

"Why should I?" she returned.

Tony grinned and leaned back while the waitress put his order in front of him. "Come on; don't tell me you aren't curious about this Buffy person."

"I believe she's the Champion." Ignoring Tony's snort of disbelief, she tuck into her own food.

"She's a Valley Girl."

Ziva stole one of his fries. "It's a great disguise. The thug was at least twice her weight, yes? Yet she took him out without breaking a sweat."

Tony opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. Giving himself a light slap on the head, he said, "You're right. Damn. She fooled me! I've seen her handling the guy, knew her name from the police reports and even made the connection on who she was - yet I still bought her Valley Girl routine!" Leaning over the table, he added, "Do you think all that head-slapping lately caused some brain damage?"

Ziva leaned close as well, narrowing her eyes at him. Sitting back again, she said, "Absolutely."

--

Once again they were walking mostly in silence, Buffy occasionally complaining about the cold the only conversation going on. After a couple of minutes Gibbs realised they were walking back towards the road and Gibbs assumed they were heading back to Xander's hotel. And he had every intention to follow them.

"Dinner?" Xander asked as he pointed at a local take-away. "I'm buying." Buffy and Gibbs snorted in unison, leaving Xander to grin widely at the two of them.

A few minutes later Xander closed the door to Buffy's hotel room behind him. Buffy was currently distributing the food between them while Gibbs stood to the side, watching. Surely, they weren't going to eat all that?

"Tuck in!" Xander said encouragingly before plopping down onto one of the beds. "Buffy looks kinda hungry."

She huffed. "Have you seen the food they offer on airplanes nowadays? Of course I'm hungry!"

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "When did you arrive?"

"Earlier this evening."

"So you haven't been here two nights ago?"

Buffy shoved the last bit of a burger into her mouth and shook her head. Once she'd swallowed, she said, "Nope."

Gibbs' eyes never let hers. "Mind showing me your tickets?"

Shrugging her shoulders, she leant over the side of the bed and pulled her bag close. She ripped off the baggage tag and handed it to Gibbs. "If that's not good enough, feel free to grab my boarding pass from the table."

Gibbs pondered that option while Buffy worked on her second burger and Xander just sat back and enjoyed what was to come. He spent enough time with Gibbs to know he'd eventually give in and get the boarding pass. And he didn't have to wait too long for it to happen either.

Of course, they were from today. After hearing about everything that happened, Buffy had decided to come and check out the area herself. Yes, Faith had been here earlier but she hadn't exactly felt like dealing with any kind of authority. Besides, after Willow's excited babble on the phone, Buffy had been kind of curious about Xander's sister too. And letting Xander walk around without backup after what had happened in the club? Not an option. They all needed their Xander in one piece.

By the time Gibbs had made sure everything was exactly like they said it would, Xander had finished his dinner. As had Buffy. And, because she hadn't wanted any food to feel neglected, she'd finished Gibb's fries too. His half eaten burger was the only food remaining uneaten.

"Where-?" Gibbs asked as he looked from Buffy to Xander and back to his food. Or its remains.

Buffy smiled innocently while Xander shrugged his shoulder. "Told you she was hungry. We've got a rule - leaving your food sitting around means it's fair game for everyone."

Gibbs shook his head in disbelief. "You've got a rule about food." Remembering something else, he asked after finishing his burger, "What's your rule number one?"

"Don't die." Buffy and Xander said in unison.

"It's ... it's a good one." What else was he supposed to say? "You're the Champion of Light."

Xander snickered whereupon Buffy stuck out her tongue. "Slayer."

"Huh?"

"Slayer. My correct title is Slayer." Buffy explained nonchalantly.

"Slayer. As in-?"

"Slaying things that go bump in the night." Buffy pulled a sword out of nowhere. "Decapitation is usually a good start."

Gibbs stared open-mouthed as Buffy swirled the sword around effortlessly. As if reading his thoughts, she added without stopping to move, "I don't like guns. Besides, a lot of baddies just get mad when you shoot them." She stopped and looked him straight in the eyes, "So don't even think about going on the hunt yourself. There are less messy ways to commit suicide."

Gibbs gulped at the hard look in her eyes. There was no doubt he was standing in front of a seasoned soldier. No matter her actual age. "What about Xander. His scars don't exactly speak of him standing back, watching."

"I'm great bait," he said cheerfully.

Gibbs growled. "You are _what_?" Turning to Buffy, he added accusingly, "And you just _let_ him?"

Buffy returned his glare. "I bet Tony _always_ does as you tell him."

Sighing, Xander stood up and stepped between them. "Stop and sit down. _Both_ of you." Holding Gibbs' eyes, he said, "What would you have done if your best friend had been turned into a vampire, trying to snack on you afterwards? If you had watched said best friend turn into ashes right in front of you? Or if you had learned your hometown was built on an active Hellmouth, spouting evil beings and attracting others just by being there? Would you really have stood back because you weren't given any extra strength, speed and skills? Or would you have tried to find a way to help?"

Xander rubbed his face tiredly and sighed. "What you have to understand is that I could have walked away from all of that ... but Buffy never had that choice. I'm doing what I'm doing because I _want_ to."

"You've lost an eye."

He shrugged his shoulders. "But I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"Now you sound like a saint."

At that, Buffy and Xander looked at each other before they broke out laughing. "Saint Xander. Has a great sound to it, you know?" Buffy said once they've calmed down. "Bet Giles would get a kick out of it."

After another round of almost hysterical laughter, Xander looked at bit sheepishly at Gibbs. "Sorry 'bout that. But saints we're not. We just try to do what's best - but we've all made mistakes along the way."

"Like what?"

Xander thought for a moment. "Ever been in a situation where you had to let one criminal go in order to catch the bigger fish?" Gibbs nodded once. "The supernatural world is pretty much like our human society. The majority isn't black and white but all kinds of shades of grey. Sometimes it's necessary to let small-time crooks be in order to catch the Big Bad. And sometimes people get hurt because of us making that decision."

Sighing deeply, Xander continued quietly, "I once summoned a demon, Sweet, to lighten up our lives a bit. Didn't quite work that way, though." Buffy cringed as Xander continued, "Everyone started dancing and singing alright. Though, it stopped being fun when people started to sing about their deepest secrets or when they instantaneously combusted."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Gibbs asked eventually.

"Because you're like a dog that has just gotten a sniff of a big, juicy bone. You won't let this go - and most likely will get yourself killed - unless we can answer your questions to your satisfaction." Xander stated matter of fact.

"I wouldn't get anyone killed!" Gibbs growled.

"If we sent you home before this conversation is finished, would you let it go or start digging for more information?" Xander asked pointedly. The look Gibbs threw him was answer enough. "That's what I thought. Dog with a bone, remember? Problem is, you don't know the rules. And that's what will get you killed. But that's not the only reason you're here."

Gibbs looked up in surprise. "It isn't?"

"Nope. You're here because I know you'll understand that doing the necessary isn't always glorious and shiny. That even the best of us can cross the line - be it literal to snipe the man who killed your family or simply by abusing your power to kill the man who's killed your lover."

Gibbs head shot up sharply.

"Like I said, you're here because you'll understand - and because _we_ understand too."

--

_A/N: Sorry for the delay. Turns out I've actually got a life. Odd._


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Gibbs couldn't sleep so he went down to his basement and worked on his boat. His mind was still reeling from everything he'd learned that night. And as unbelievable as some of it was, he just knew Xander hadn't been lying to him. Still, that didn't mean he would just ignore what they've told him and go back to his life as if nothing had happened.

First, he would talk to DiNozzo and David. He had contemplated calling them after leaving the hotel, but seeing how it was well past midnight, he'd decided to be nice for once and let them sleep. Besides, it gave him more time to sort out his own thoughts.

Like how they'd managed to dig up information on his wife and daughter when even his friends didn't know about it? He'd been ready to protest their story when Xander had quietly pointed out that the second part of his statement had been in relation to one of their own. At that point Gibbs had realised that they really did understand - and, even though they knew it wasn't right, they weren't going to judge him on it either.

After that, their conversation had quickly come to an end. Xander had told him he could share his new information with DiNozzo and David, but had insisted on leaving McGee and, more importantly, Abby out of the loop. He'd kept this part of his life from his sister for the last seven years and had no intentions to change that.

Gibbs had protested at first until Xander had pointed out Abby's fascination with vampires and the like and asked him what he thought she'd do as soon as she found out the truth. That picture had had a chill run down his spine and Gibbs had quickly agreed to keep her out of the loop.

Gibbs sighed and continued to work on his boat. He knew he wasn't going to get any sleep tonight.

At 5am he called David and DiNozzo. They needed to be briefed - and he was ready for breakfast and some coffee he hadn't made himself.

--

"Tony, hey," Abby called as she rushed into the bullpen, her pig-tails bouncing as if they were high on caffeine. Tilting her head, she gave him a once-over before handing over her Caf-Pow. "You look like you need it more than I do."

Ziva peeked out from behind her monitor and Abby almost laughed out loud. "Maybe you could share it with Ziva." Wriggling her eyebrows suggestively, she added, "Hope you haven't broken rule number twelve. But if you have, I want all the details."

Gibbs, who looked as fresh as ever, was smirking when he overheard the end of the conversation - and watched David's and DiNozzo's reactions. Schooling his features, he crossed the remaining distance between them and gave Abby a quick hug.

"Gibbs!"

He smiled. "Aren't you supposed to be downstairs?"

"I'm still early." She grabbed him by his shoulders and shook her head at him. "But look at you, you've already spoken to the Director, you're out of coffee and-" she pointed behind her, "the Baby-Gibblets are too tired to survive without an extra-shot of Caf-Pow! Take a risk and come in on time for once - not two hours early! Especially if you haven't got a case."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows and scrutinised her face. "Just how much caffeine did you have this morning?"

"Gotta go!" she turned quickly and headed for the elevator.

Gibbs grabbed her arm before she was out of reach. "Not so fast. New necklace?"

"Gibbs! I didn't think you'd notice." She was thoroughly impressed by him. Of course, she didn't know he just had his world turned upside down and was going to keep an even closer eye on her. "Willow gave it to me. Neat, isn't it? She and Xander are coming over for lunch and they're bringing a friend! I can't wait but I have so I might just as well go to my lab and see how Major Mass-Spec is doing. He had a bit of a cough yesterday and I want to check him out."

Gibbs smiled slightly at the babbling Goth. Though he could also see why Xander didn't want to involve his sister in the darker aspects of his life. "No Caf-Pow until later."

"But-"

"Abs."

Huffing, she turned and stormed off. Gibbs chuckled, knowing she would only be mad at him until he brought her the next Caf-Pow.

--

They had lasted two full days.

Buffy was almost impressed. It was the third night after they'd introduced Gibbs, and by proxy Ziva and Tony to the supernatural and they had resisted going hunting on their own until now. Buffy was quietly following them through the second cemetery of the night. She knew this time was a good chance they'd actually come across a fledgling.

Willow had run her search program and come up with a list of newly deceased people that might or might not be re-awaken as vampires. Of course this wasn't Sunnydale, so their frequency was much lower. And a trip through the demon bars of the area had told her they were keeping the vampire population at a certain level. Too much attention was bad for all of them, especially when people weren't looking away when strange things happened.

Xander, of course, had predicted that it would be a few days before they'd go out and hunt themselves. Not because they weren't curious, but because Gibbs was meticulous. He would want as much information as possible before trying anything. This also involved research into areas most likely to have something supernatural present. Nothing irked the older agent more than wasting his time by checking out random cemeteries. No, he'd have Ziva and Tony look for patterns first. And because they were involving neither McGee nor Abby, it took them longer than it would otherwise.

It had been relatively easy for Willow to monitor their internet searches. Still, Buffy had been out every night to make sure they weren't going to do something stupid. Besides, she enjoyed the change in her hunting grounds. She was alone and the baddies didn't know her. She was having more fun than she had in a long time - teasing them to death never got old. And there were plenty of all-night diners around to fill her cravings for food after a good night of slaying.

But tonight was different.

Tonight she was on babysitting duty - and her biggest challenge so far was to remain hidden from her charges.

--

"Do you really think this is a good idea, boss?" Tony asked, turning his head left and right ever so often.

Gibbs glared at him before continuing on his way through the cemetery, his hand moving even closer to his gun. He still wasn't sure what to believe - well, vampires were real, but how much of a threat were there really? - and to answer this question was why they were here in the first place. He'd even made and brought a couple of stakes for each of them, though he couldn't really imagine they'd work better than his bullets - no matter what Xander and Buffy had told them.

Ziva exchanged a look with Tony, smirking slightly at his uneasiness, before taking her stake out and twirling it in her hand. A moment later, it was gone again. Tony sighed and followed, acutely aware of any sound - natural or unnatural - surrounding them. He really didn't like this situation one bit. Not only was he strolling around a cemetery at night - and as much as he liked his horror movies, he preferred to watch them, not find himself in the middle of one - but said cemetery was old. As were the large number of trees lining the graves.

"Where to?" Gibbs whispered as they reached yet another interception. Tony took out the map he'd printed out and pointed to their left. "Should be about 50 yards in that direction."

They continued in silence. The closer the came to the grave they'd identified as a possibility, the more Tony's gut started to clench. He really, really had a bad feeling about this.

--

Abby was tickling her brother mercilessly.

"Uncle! Uncle!" Xander cried in between bouts of laughter. "You win!"

"Good." Abby smirked and crashed onto the couch next to him. Leaning forward, she took the last remaining Twinkie from the table and ate it. Slowly. Very slowly.

Xander grumbled throughout, but the grin never left his face. He'd missed just being silly with his big sister.

Abby licked the last of her fingers before poking his side. "Ready for the next movie?"

His stomach rumbled and he grinned. "As long as it comes with pizza!"

While Abby shook her head at him, they'd just had dinner an hour ago, Xander left the room only to return with a box of cold pizza. Sighing deeply, he let himself fall back onto the couch. "Now that's what I call a proper snack."

"Do you think Buffy and Willow are alright?" Abby asked. "They don't know the place as well I do, after all."

Xander smirked. "Trust me, they'll be fine."

"They could have joined us," Abby pointed out. "I like them."

"Me too." Xander grinned. "But Willow decided we needed some alone time without being drugged. We never had a chance to change her mind after she'd come to that conclusion."

"Speaking of experience, huh?" Abby giggled as her brother scrunched up his face and nodded. Stealing the remote, she nodded at her TV set. "Ready?"

"Ready."

He only hoped Gibbs, Tony and Ziva were ready too.

--

Buffy tilted her head. Not only had the NCIS team come up with a correct location for a fledgling, said fledgling was currently digging his way out of his grave. Crouching high up in a near-by tree, Buffy got her stake ready and continued to watch. This was supposed to be a one-off lesson, so she was going to make sure it was going to stick.

--

Tony looked around nervously. They'd reached the grave and the bad feeling he had had only increased. Something was off, they really shouldn't have come. He was about to say something when Ziva pulled him away.

"It's moving," she whispered.

Sure enough, the loose soil on top the grave was moving. Slightly at first and Tony could almost convince himself it was a trick of his mind, but soon enough, a dirty arm appeared, quickly followed by another. Tony couldn't move and wasn't complaining when Ziva pulled him back even further.

A quick glance to his side told him Gibbs already had his gun out and was pointing it at the direction of the grave.

--

Up in her tree Buffy was shaking her head.

Guns. Idiots.

And Tony looked like he was frozen in place.

Looks like she had to intervene even earlier than she had thought.

--

"Don't move!" Gibbs called once the dirty figure had completely freed himself from his grave.

He tilted his head for a moment before turning around. A grin spreading across his face, he scrutinised his hands, flexing them slowly to check if they still worked properly. Which they did. Marcos chuckled quietly. So the rumours had been true. Vampires were real. And strong. He could tell as much already. And he was hungry. Even better, some old guy had been nice enough to stop by and offer himself up as dinner.

Marcos slowly lifted his head and thought of blood. He giggled when he felt his features shift into something more demonic. And then he let his new inner demon take complete control of himself and attacked.

Gibbs blinked when the guy's features changed in front of him. The most prominent changes were the yellow-ish eyes, ridged forehead and, of course, the new set of sharp teeth. "Stop!" he called again just as the guy started to jump him. Gibbs pulled the trigger of his gun and didn't stop until the guy was lying unmoving on the ground.

Gibbs slowly edged closer with Ziva and Tony moving in from the other side. The body on the ground didn't move. Gun ready, Gibbs kicked his shoulder - and found himself flat on his back. The guy - no, vampire - leered down on him, teeth exposed. Gibbs struggled against him, but the vamps fingers were only digging deeper into Gibbs' upper arms. He was trapped.

The next moment he heard Ziva scream and felt her attack the vampire. The weight was taken off him immediately, but he knew they were in trouble. Both Tony and Ziva were fighting the vampire hand-to-hand - and both found themselves repeatedly on the ground. Gibbs shook his head, trying to clear the double-vision he'd acquired thanks to hitting his head on the way down. Then he took his stake out and charged.

--

Buffy watched from her elevated position.

The vampire might be stronger, but the three NCIS agents had quickly adapted their tactics. They were now trying to wear him out, attacking him from three sides at once. As she'd expected, Ziva was the best fighter of the three, closely followed by Gibbs. And, luckily neither of the three had any problems fighting dirty.

Eventually Ziva managed to land a hard enough kick to have the vampire stumble backwards. Tony, who'd just found himself on the ground again, reacted more instinctively than anything and pushed his hand that was holding the stake forward. Together with the vampire's movement in the opposite direction, it was enough to drive the stake in deep enough to turn it into dust.

--

Tony looked stunned for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and bent forward, resting his hands on his knees and breathing heavily. "Not fun."

Ziva mimicked his gesture. "I agree."

Gibbs, knowing bending over with a couple of cracked ribs wasn't the brightest idea, leaned against the nearest gravestone and silently agreed.

They all looked up in shock when a dark figure walked out of the shadows, clapping loudly.

--

_A/N: Looks like He-Muse decided to come along and play a bit. Hope you like it! _


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

"Well done, my children, well done."

Ziva and Tony straightened immediately, moving over to Gibbs and stopping at either side of him.

The figure, a tall man wearing a leather coat, strolled towards them as if he didn't have a single care in the world. Even though his face was paler than usual, together with his high cheekbones, dark eyebrows and just as dark but long hair, the paleness was adding to his charismatic features. His outfit was completed by leather pants, boots and a dark shirt under a leather vest.

Expensive, was what Tony thought first. The clothes were tailored, not bought off the rack. Dangerous, very dangerous, was his second thought and he subconsciously tightened the hold on his stake.

Casually stepping over the pile of ash, he stopped in front of them. "It is a shame about Marcos, really. I had big plans for him. Then again, his death shall not be in vain. After all, he brought me three new children."

--

Buffy was rolling her eyes. This guy was so cliché right down to his fake Italian accent! After locating his minions, he'd only brought two and they were hiding behind a couple of bushes, she slipped down the tree and silently made her way over to them. Normally she'd play, but this time she had a bunch of newbies to watch out for. She silently staked first one, then the second minion before slowly edging closer to the others.

Of course the NCIS agents had stumbled upon a fledgling with a sire showing an interest in him. Then again, they might inadvertently have led her straight to one of the bigger players around. Or at least someone who aimed to become one of them.

After making sure all her weapons were well within reach Buffy stepped out into the open. Taking a leaf out of Drusilla's book, Buffy walked slowly towards the group with her eyes directed towards the cloudy sky. She even hummed to herself and stopped once or twice to turn around in a full circle, her arms stretched out to the side.

Knowing she had the vamp's attention, she sighed dreamily and continued on her path towards them.

Vincento smiled. It really seemed to be his lucky day. Or night. Keeping a close eye on the three people behind him, he waited till she was close enough to hear him without problem. "What brings you to my lair tonight?"

Buffy ignored him, instead turning another full circle on the spot, humming dreamily.

Vincento took one step closer which also took him a step away from the NCIS agents.

Buffy pretended to notice him for the first time, giving a little squeal of surprise. She looked at him coyly through half-lidded eyes. "Pretty."

Yeah, she thought, pretty cliché, pretty dead and pretty eww.

Vincento chuckled and took yet another step closer. "What's your name, my child?"

Putting her hand over her heart, she smiled and drifted backwards. "But sir, I do not know you!"

"Excuse my ignorance, my lady. I am Vincento." He'd come closer again and Buffy mentally rolled her eyes, seeing how the NCIS agents were still rooted to the spot rather than getting to safety. Then again, they probably thought she needed help.

Buffy didn't resist when he took her hand and kissed the back of it. She did, however, pull him yet another step further away from her charges. "Vincento!" She giggled while filing the name away for further research.

"Indeed." He tilted his head before asking, "Would you care to dance with me?"

"Thought you'd never ask!" Buffy said - and rearranged Vincento's nose with her fist.

He cried out, probably more in anger than in pain, and changed into his game face. "Who _are_ you?"

"Who, little ol' me?" Buffy shrugged her shoulders while they circled around each other. "Wanna guess?"

"You're dead," Vincento snarled and attacked. But Buffy had expected him to do just that and stepped out of his way. He swirled around and attacked again. This time, Buffy blocked his arm with her own and immediately returned the favour.

--

"Remind me to never get on her bad side," Tony whispered to no one in particular as they all watched Buffy fight the vampire.

Both their movements were almost too quick to follow and, all three realised, much faster and coordinated than the one vampire they had fought. And they had been three against one - and even though they had eventually won, they had come away with multiple bruises, split lips and even a few cracked ribs.

They had been lucky, Gibbs realised. And Buffy had probably been watching them all the time, protecting them, teaching them.

For a lack of better a word, Ziva was awestruck. She had come across a plethora of skilled fighters - but none of them came even close to Buffy. She wasn't using one particular style but seemed to mix a wide range of different martial art styles. She should have been worried about the vampire, Vincento, as she was certain they wouldn't be able to beat him - but she wasn't. Buffy's movements spoke of confidence and, more importantly, of experience. And, more than anything else, Buffy had thrown her a casual grin right before Vincento landed a kick to her chest that sent her flying backwards.

"You kick like a girl." Buffy taunted as she flipped herself into a standing position.

"Did she just-? Did you see that?" Tony asked, his mouth hanging wide open.

"Yeah." Gibbs couldn't help but smile. "She's good."

--

Buffy huffed while she blocked another series of attacks from Vincento. She was just _good_? Ha, she was going to _show_ Gibbs good! "So," she said conversationally just as she landed a hit on his already broken nose. "Hang out here often?"

Vincento growled and for the first time got the feeling that he might be in a spot of trouble. No matter how often he hit the woman, she just jumped up again and returned the favour.

Slayer.

The word had slowly fought its way out of the mists of his mind and was now firmly sitting at the front, taunting him.

He had become a century only a couple of years ago. And he had never come across a Slayer before. He had made it his point to stay low level enough to not attract the Slayer's attention. It was his very own strategy for survival - _'Kill clever, run faster, live longer'_. On occasion, when all his precautions hadn't been enough, he had escaped and given up his minions for the greater good - namely his own survival. Then he had reinvented himself and started again.

That's how he had become Vincento five years ago.

He only hoped that hadn't been his last name change. With that in mind, he started a new round of attacks - going straight for the kill rather than trying to make her a new minion of his.

"What's with the speechlessness?" Buffy cocked an eyebrow, ducked under his swing and punched his kidneys for his efforts. "Never heard of multitasking?"

"Slayer," he hissed.

Buffy gave a feral grin. "Slayée."

They'd stopped fighting for a moment and went back to circling each other.

"Never tasted one before." He smirked. "I'm looking forward to it now."

Buffy sighed theatrically. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nothing but promises."

"It's a promise I intend to keep."

Buffy stopped and crossed her arms in front of her. "I guess now that we're done with the foreplay, I might just as well tell you my name."

Vincento smirked. He just knew he was winning now. She was getting cocky. And Slayer or not, this would play to his favour.

"What? Swallowed your tongue?" Buffy huffed and stomped her food on the ground. "How am I supposed to do with the quip-age if you don't play along?"

He lifted the corner of his mouth, tapping his chin with his index finger. Giving a mock-curtsey, he asked, "Well, my dear dead girl, what may be your name?"

"Glad you've asked!" Buffy rocked on the balls of her feet, smiling brilliantly at the vamp in front of her. Adapting a badly fake British accent, she said, "I'm Summers. _Buffy_ Summers." Then she mimicked a pistol with her right hand - and blew on top of the make-shift barrel. "Wow. I always wanted to do that!"

--

"Did she really do that?" Tony grinned, which looked quite interesting with one of his eyes swollen shut, and looked over at Gibbs and Ziva. "I think I'm in love."

"She can probably kill in more ways than I can," Ziva replied dryly.

Tony winced. "And there goes that fantasy."

"Did Vincento just flinch when she told him her name?" Gibbs barely stopped himself from subconsciously walking closer to the two fighters, even though they were currently doing nothing more than staring at each other.

Ziva nodded in agreement. "He seems impressed. Scared even."

"Makes you wonder, doesn't it?" Tony said from next to her.

Seconds later, the fight started again.

--

Buffy pouted. Vincento showed every sign of thinking of escape. And she hadn't even started playing with her weapons yet. "What's with the being speechless? _Again_? Thought we talked about that, huh?"

He carefully took another step back. "I have never been much of a talker."

"Right. You're more of a runner," Buffy said, nodding to herself.

"Why take chances?" Vincento shrugged his shoulders, his face morphing back to its human features. "Maybe you have any advice on getting my soul back? You know, to live a long and worthy life?"

Buffy raised her eyebrows. That was a new one. "Sure." She moved back into attacking range. "You could try the reincarnation thingy. I'd even help you with the dying part. Well, the falling into ashes part anyway."

He nodded slowly as if pondering the offer. Then, without as much as a warning, he leapt forward, his face turning back into the game-face midair and he kicked Buffy in the chest, sending her flying.

Or so he thought.

Seeing his attack, Buffy jumped backwards just as his feet made contact with her, therefore taking most of the force out of the kick. She still landed on her back but was much less winded than she made him believe she was.

Vincento came rushing over, ready to pounce on her again.

Instead of landing on top of her, though, he found himself flat on the ground. Buffy had rolled out from under him just before he'd reached her.

"One reincarnation coming up!" Buffy had jumped onto his back to keep him down and pushed a stake through his heart before he could even think of getting up. Standing up, she brushed herself off. "Kinda anti-climatic, really."

She casually strolled over to the three NCIS agents, brushing the last bits of vampire dust off her hands and making some adjustments to her hairdo. Buffy stopped in front of Gibbs, arms crossed in front of her, locking eyes with him.

Ziva put her hand over Tony's mouth just as he was getting ready for the long list of questions he had. She shook her head at him and, after taking a closer look at Buffy, the desire for those answers suddenly vanished.

Buffy looked livid.

Gibbs was the first to give in. "You aren't even out of breath."

"He was a lover, not a fighter." Buffy scrunched up her face and visibly shuddered. "Eww. I really just said that, didn't I?"

"He was _scared_ after you told him your name."

"Loved the introduction, by the way," Tony piped up but a quick jab in the ribs by Ziva had him quiet again.

Buffy flashed Tony a quick smile before she concentrated on Gibbs once more. "Never met him before."

Gibbs shook his head. "It's the name. He was scared of your _name_. Your reputation. He wasn't too bothered by you being the Slayer but he was scared as soon as he learned your name."

Buffy shrugged her shoulder. "And?"

"Looks like you're famous," Tony said. "Which means you must have taken out some really big guns, right?"

"Just doing my job." Buffy narrowed her eyes, looking from Gibbs to Tony to Ziva and back. "_My_ job. Not yours. Not anyone else's job. But _my_ job."

"And we were interfering," Gibbs said. Locking eyes with her again, he added, "You babysat us. You were here the entire time."

"Dead NCIS agents are usually not of the good. Especially when I have a shopping date to keep."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows. "Shopping."

"Yup. A girl can never have enough shoes."

"Let me get this straight," Gibbs said. "You followed us because you want to go shoe shopping?" He didn't know how she did it, but one second she was standing right in front of him and the next she was slapping the back of his head. Well, it was more of a light tap, really, but it shocked him nevertheless. He blinked and she was right in front of him as if she hadn't moved.

"Try again," she prompted.

Gibbs glared at her but Buffy wasn't impressed. Instead, she tapped her foot on the ground and inspected her fingernails. "Oh no, no, no, no, no!" The tapping stopped and Buffy held her fingers closer to her eyes. "Great." She huffed and kicked a small pebble. Hard. Holding her fingers right in front of Gibbs' face, she asked, "Do you have any _idea_ how long it took me to have them just the way I like it? Now look! The fingernail's broken!"

Gibbs opened his mouth as if to say something but closed it again without making any noise. Lifting his hands helplessly, he shook his head. He either had a concussion - or was in the middle of a very bad nightmare. "I'm officially lost."

"Ah, boss? Broken fingernails are bad," Tony said.

"Very bad," Buffy said darkly before changing topics once again. "And I was following you so your stupidity wouldn't get you killed."

Gibbs' suddenly became aware that his head hurt. Badly. And he started to have problems following the quick and random changes of topics. Thankfully, his agents knew how to think on their own and were still pretty much in the conversation. Maybe he should just lean against the gravestone and listen to them. Listening hurt less than thinking, after all.

"You watched us fight the vampire," Ziva stated.

"Yup. Messy technique, Tony got lucky but you're still alive." Buffy smirked. "You do know this was a fledgling, a rookie, right? No experience whatsoever?"

"Yet we were three against one and still got beaten up badly." Ziva sighed and nodded. "It was a lesson, yes?"

"And a good one too," Tony quickly added. "But what about this Vincento guy?"

"He was a surprise." Buffy leaned closer and continued rather casually. "He and his minions, who were hiding further back, would have had no problems killing all of you tonight. Probably would've turned you too."

Tony cringed. "Ugh. I like my current self just fine."

Buffy wriggled her eyebrows at him before she stepped up to Gibbs and shone a flashlight into his eyes. "Made for a nice lesson. Vincento was much more skilled than the fledgling but he was still a light player. You lot go out hunting again and I guarantee you will be dead meat within the next two or three outings." She made eye-contact with each of them before continuing sternly, "I'm not interfering with your work, so don't start interfering with mine. Understood?"

"Gotcha!" Tony was ready to agree but Ziva looked more thoughtful.

Rolling her eyes, Buffy motioned to Gibbs. "Enough chatting for now. Old guy here just realised that he has a bit of a concussion going on. Let's take this somewhere safe."

Grabbing the car keys from Gibbs' pockets, Buffy turned and started walking back. Looking over her shoulder, she held up the keys and asked, "Are you coming? I'm driving."

--

_A/N: Sorry about the wait, but my muses went on strike. Sort of. Let's just say they were more interested in food than writing. But after I gave them a stern talking to, they stopped eating (at least that's what I hope they were doing with all that food) and helped me with this chapter... Or maybe they were a bit annoyed with me. But that's so not my fault. I mean, one of my favourite fanfic authors decided to start a new story, I was low on good stuff to read but didn't know the fandom - Castle. So I did what everyone would do, got and watched Castle so I could read the story. Of course, now I'm hooked and my muses are very unhappy with me. As in teasing them with such a good show and not allowing them to play... much. Sigh. Anyway, hope you like this chapter, for once it actually went where I wanted it to go... _


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

"What's up?" Buffy asked. Gibbs and Ziva were already in the car but Tony eyed the backseat reluctantly.

"Why do I have the feeling I should be walking?" He frowned at his own question, trying to figure out the answer. He knew there was something he needed to remember.

Buffy shrugged her shoulders. "Concussion? Judging by that nice shiner, you've got hit pretty bad too. Now get in."

Tony hesitated but complied eventually. As soon as he was sitting, though, he remembered. _Her style's a bit erratic, you know?_ That's what Xander had said about Buffy's driving style - _after_ one of Gibbs' close to suicidal rides through the city. Tony buckled up with lightning speed before trying to remember an appropriate prayer from his childhood.

Throughout the drive Tony looked out of the window in horror - and fascination. Just as he was sure they were running into oncoming traffic or any obstacle, for that matter, Buffy steered and they miraculously avoided a crash.

By a hair's breadth.

Turning corners was another experience Tony could have lived without. Buffy didn't seem to believe in slowing down. Or not until they reached the corner, anyway. Then she'd break and turn as if it was the easiest thing to do at almost full speed. She did, however, indicate her intention early on. Once Tony had figured that out, he braced himself even if there was no sign of Buffy following up on it.

After a while he even managed to look over at Ziva.

She was smiling. Her upper lip was split open pretty badly, her left eye was swollen - although not as bad as his own - and there was a large bruise forming on her left cheek. But she was smiling. Grinning, even. She almost looked like a child on Christmas morning.

Somehow, Tony wasn't surprised.

In a more daring move - they were stopping at a red light - Tony leaned forward to check out Gibbs. He hadn't said anything since they'd left the cemetery and Tony was just a tad worried. The next moment he realised he needn't be. Gibbs looked happy. Tony blinked, just to make sure there wasn't something in his eyes that prevented him to see clearly, but before he could focus on Gibbs again he was thrown back into his seat.

The traffic light had changed and there were up to full speed again.

He sighed and hoped they'd soon reach their destination.

Wherever that may be.

* * *

Willow was pacing in Buffy's room. Her friend had called her a few minutes ago, warning her about their imminent arrival. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door and Willow rushed to open it.

"Oh my." She stepped out of the way to let the battered NCIS agents in.

Buffy followed with a spring in her step, grinning happily. "They liked my driving."

"Is that why Tony looks so green around the edges?" Willow asked, closing the door behind her friend.

Buffy frowned and looked over to Tony. He was sitting - slouching, really - in a chair, his eyes closed. Sure, he looked a bit pale, that was probably from the pain from his injuries. "Gibbs and Ziva are grinning," she pointed out. "Two against one, so my driving wins."

"At least she indicates before turning a corner," he muttered. Opening one eye - which wasn't all that much of a coordinative challenge, seeing how his eye was swollen shut anyway - he nodded towards Gibbs. "Unlike Gibbs and Ziva. Gives you time to hold on for dear life."

Willow couldn't help but giggle at the pitiful undertone in Tony's voice.

"See?" Buffy said triumphantly. "I'm not that bad, I just have great reflexes! Now, where's dinner? I'm starving."

On clue, there was a knock on the door and Buffy went to open it. There was a short conversation before she returned, carrying three large pizzas. She opened all three boxes before, upon opening the third one, she squealed and, taking it with her, got comfortable on her bed.

Willow giggled again before snatching herself a slice from the remaining two boxes. "You guys wanna eat or clean-up first?"

"Eat? We've just been beaten up by a vamp, almost becoming dinner ourselves, and you want us to _eat_?" Tony asked in surprise, just before his stomach rumbled. Shrugging his shoulders, carefully, the frown on his face was suddenly replaced with a grin. "I guess I could eat."

Ziva snorted and quickly pulled one of the pizza's closer to where she was sitting on the room's second bed. "You could always eat."

Willow smiled at the interaction, glad they weren't showing any signs of shock. She looked over at Gibbs, who was sitting in a chair, apparently content. She frowned. According to Xander, she'd expected him to bombard them with questions the moment they entered the hotel room. But he'd been awfully quiet. Sighing, she put her pizza down again and got up.

"Concussion," Buffy said dismissively before digging into her third slice of pizza for the day. "Just a teeny, tiny, baby one."

Willow rolled her eyes at her friends and went over to Gibbs. "Don't move." She put her hands on his temples and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she found him blinking at her.

"What the _hell_?"

"Later," Willow said before handing him a slice of pizza. "Eat."

For once, Gibbs was too stunned to ask more questions. So he did what he was told to do and took a bit out of the pizza. Maybe by the time he was done eating, he could think clearly again. As, even thought the fuzziness was gone, as was the pain, he still wasn't quite up to his best.

* * *

It was a good half hour before either Buffy or Willow were willing to answer any questions the NCIS agents might have.

"I had a concussion." Gibbs stated rather pointedly.

"You hit your head on the ground," Buffy replied in the same tone.

Gibbs rolled his eyes. He started to push himself up but quickly regretted his decisions. The movement caused a sharp pain to course through his ribs. "I _had_ a concussion. It's gone now."

"It's a nice night," Buffy said. "The concussion probably thought you were boring, sitting around, doing nothing, and left you to meet up with his friends."

Tony snorted. "Nice."

Buffy flashed him a brilliant grin. "Thanks."

"DiNozzo! Focus!"

"Yes, boss. Sorry, boss." He looked between Buffy and Willow. "So. Uhm. Thanks?"

"He killed his first vamp today," Buffy said to Willow. "Well, it kinda fell onto his stake."

Willow tilted her head. "Wanna repeat the experience?"

"What? No!" Tony looked at them in shock. One night had been enough for him, thank you very much.

"Good choice." Willow nodded in satisfaction. Turning to the other two agents, she asked, "What about you?"

Ziva looked thoughtful. "We were lucky tonight. We didn't know what to expect." She stopped. "No, the vampire didn't fight like we expected. We thought it would fight like any other human, which was wrong. I believe that with the right training the fight would have ended much earlier, yes?"

Buffy raised her eyebrows. "Yes." She locked eyes with Ziva, then with Gibbs. "But I'm not going to teach either of you."

She held up her hand before they could protest. "This is _not_ your fight, remember? Killing _one_ vamp doesn't mean you know the rules. How would you feel if I'd turn up at your next case, stomping all over your evidence, ignoring any protocol?"

Gibbs growled.

"Yeah, I thought so too." Buffy sighed. "This isn't a game. There's a whole world outside you can't even begin to understand. Your job is to get the human monsters off the street. Mine is to do the same with the supernatural ones."

"We could help," Gibbs said.

"Amateurs," Willow said quietly. "Would you work with amateurs?"

"No. But-"

"No _buts_!" Buffy jumped off the bed and ended up standing in front of Gibbs before either of the NCIS agents could blink. "Here's how it's going to work. You are _not_ going out, looking for the supernatural. You are _not_ calling in any favours to find out more about us. You are _not_ going to interfere with our work. You are _not_ sharing anything you've learned today with Abby or McGee. You are, however, going to call this number if you ever come across a case that feels off. If anyone mentions the Slayer, witches or demons you are going to call this number. _Understood_?"

Gibbs looked at the white business card Buffy had given him. It had a telephone number on it, nothing else. Looking at his agents, he saw Ziva and Tony had similar cards in their hands. Buffy was still standing in front of him, glaring.

Gibbs snorted, motioning at himself and also at Ziva and Tony, he said, "_One_, it's going to be hard to cover up our cuts and bruises. Abby and McGee will ask where they come from. As will the Director, for that matter. _Two_, what if we say no to your deal? What are you going to do? Lock us up? _That'd_ raise a question or two..."

"Uh, Boss?" Tony asked cautiously, interrupting Gibbs in his speech. He knew it was getting on thin ice with this, but he had no choice.

"_What_?"

Tony stood up and walked around Willow, coming to a stop in front of Gibbs. His face looked - and felt - as healthy as it had before they'd left for the cemetery. While Gibbs had made his speech, Willow had come up to him and sprinkled some strange smelling herbs over his face before muttering something unintelligible. The next thing he knew was his face had stopped hurting.

"Your face!" Ziva stood up and touched his formerly swollen shut eye. "It's like nothing happened to it."

"Exactly. And something tells me, if we tell Buffy to _'forget your deal'_, we will. Literally."

Gibbs snorted, though it didn't sound quiet as convincing as he would have liked. "You've seen too many movies, DiNozzo."

"That's probably true," Willow said, drawing everyone's attention to her - and the small ball of fire floating on the palm of her hand. "But he's right."

"You are a witch, yes?" Ziva asked, eyes lighting up with interest.

Gibbs threw his hands up in the air - and winced at the pain shooting through his ribcage - before shaking his head in defeat. He hated it when he wasn't in control. And one look at Buffy and Willow, one look into their eyes told him he was as far from having control of the situation as he could be.

"Deal," he agreed grudgingly.

"Great!" Willow closed her hand, putting out the fire by doing so and smiled. "I don't really like the memory spells. It's so easy to mess them up. I mean, you only want to erase last night and one wrongly pronounced word and you end up erasing the last year!"

The NCIS agents stared at Willow in shock while she grabbed another slice of pizza as if she hadn't just destroyed some of their beliefs.

* * *

Xander was slouching in one of the comfy armchairs of Buffy's hotel room and grinned. The two beds - and their occupants - were providing his entertainment for the moment. He'd already taken several pictures on his cell phone. You never knew when you needed some blackmail material, after all.

On the right, Gibbs was snoring softly, his face more relaxed than Xander had ever seen before. He guessed Willow had done a little more than just putting him under a spell to assure a deep healing sleep. What was far more interesting though, as far as he was concerned anyway, was the left bed. Tony was spooning Ziva, his face nuzzling her neck in his sleep.

Only a day ago Xander would have painted a fake moustache on Tony's face or have done something similar immature. But, after listening to Buffy and Willow's account of the night, he had decided Tony wasn't as bad as he'd thought he was at first. Apparently he was capable of learning from his mistakes and judging his own capabilities quite well. Besides, his sister liked him and most of the things that had annoyed him about Tony came from wanting to protect her.

Of course, that hadn't prevented him from suggesting the current position Tony was in. Then again, it could have been much worse. After Buffy had called him to say she and Willow had to leave due to an emergency back in Cleveland, Xander had come back to the hotel only to find the three NCIS agents fast asleep.

With Tony cuddled up to Gibbs and Ziva sprawled out alone on the second bed.

Sure, he had shot a couple of pictures but then he'd pointed out that this probably wasn't such a good idea. Especially if they wanted Gibbs to stay away from them. Willow had just raised an eyebrow at Buffy, clearly stating 'I told you so'. So, with much huffing and grumbling, Buffy had picked up Tony and put him on Ziva's bed - and arranged them in their current position.

After some extensive hugging and telling each other to be careful, Buffy and Willow had gathered their stuff and left. Knowing the agents would sleep through the remainder of the night, Xander had gone to his room - there was a convenient connecting door between the two rooms - to get some much needed sleep himself.

Now, with the sun shining brightly into the room, he was back and waiting for the inevitable.

The agents had to wake up at some point - and according to Willow that would be within the next half an hour.

Xander was mentally preparing himself for a new round of twenty questions when Gibbs started to stir. He could pinpoint the exact point Gibbs woke completely. The peaceful expression left the older man's face seconds and seconds later he sat up with a start.

"What the _hell_?"

Xander sighed and really wished Willow had warned the agents of what she was going to do before putting the go-to-sleep spell on them.

* * *

_A/N: _Slowly peaks out of secret hiding place, making sure nobody's around._ Right. Sorry about the - _cough -_ slight - _cough_ - delay. This is part of my muses and I apparently vacating in different places and part due to, well, me being busy with grown-up stuff. Good news is, the grown-up stuff is sorted. Bad news is, the grown-up stuff comes with me moving which involves more grown-up stuff... Though I am hoping of having more time for writing than I had the past month..._

_A/N2: Did really eat all my separators? I caught it when I live-previewed this chapter and added them again - but they seem to be gone in all the other chapters too. This sucks. I certainly don't have time to add them again right now :(.  
_


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

"Harris? What is going on?" Gibbs stood up and took a couple of steps in Xander's direction. "My ribs. What hap- ... never mind." He remembered last night, how Willow had first cured his concussion and then taken care of DiNozzo's face. And, according to the dull but easily manageable pain in his ribs, she'd also taken care of his broken bones. "Willow and Buffy?"

"Had some business to attend to," Xander explained.

Gibbs huffed before he turned his attention to the other bed. Ignoring Xander's chuckles, Gibbs' eyes opened wide at the sight in front of him and he stepped up and shook DiNozzo's shoulder. "DiNozzo! David!"

"Five more minutes," DiNozzo mumbled, causing another bout of chuckles coming from Xander. Gibbs glared at him over his shoulder before he flicked Tony's ear. "DiNozzo! Get up. _Now_!"

Much to Xander's amusement, several things happened at once. Ziva, who hadn't shown any signs of consciousness so far, opened her eyes with a start. At the same time Tony woke up completely. Realisation of their current position hit them at the same time and they both jumped up and off the bed in opposite directions.

"Tony!"

"Ziva!"

Meanwhile Xander roared with laughter, holding his hurting sides at the same time. Even Gibbs had a trouble keeping the corner of his mouth from twitching. Judging by his last memory - them talking to Willow and Buffy - the witch must have done something that had put them to sleep. So he could hardly blame Tony and Ziva for the compromising position they had found themselves in. Of course, he wasn't going to tell them that any time soon. Where would be the fun in that?

"Sleep well?" Xander asked innocently while he watched the two agents eye each other with uncertainty.

As one, all three agents turned to him and glared. Xander grinned and waved. "Isn't it a beautiful morning?" There was a knock on the door and Xander went to open it without stopping to talk. "Willow and Buffy are very sorry they had to leave so soon, but they had more important business to attend to." He accepted the trolley from room service and pulled it into the middle of the room. "Breakfast?"

Ignoring the smell of the freshly brewed coffee for the moment, Gibbs said, "I don't remember falling asleep."

"Yeah, me neither," Tony answered almost immediately.

"Willow did something, yes?"

Xander nodded before taking a sip of his coffee. He put the cup down again and grinned. "Just be glad I came back _before_ they had to leave."

"What? _Why_?" Tony asked in alarm.

"Let's just say the sleeping arrangements were slightly different." Xander smirked and nodded towards Ziva. "Never pecked you for a sprawler, though."

Tony's eyes opened unnaturally wide, while Gibbs casually got himself some coffee and took a long sip. "What ... What do you mean?"

Xander pulled out his cell phone, scrolled through the pictures and finally held it out for Tony to see.

And Tony squealed.

Gibbs threw one glance over DiNozzo's shoulder and rolled his eyes at the picture of his sleeping agent curled up against him. Then he went back to breakfast.

"What now?" Gibbs asked a few minutes later.

Xander shrugged his shoulders. "Buffy found these bags in your trunk. I assume you've got a change of clothes in there?" Seeing Gibbs nod, Xander continued, "Then I'd say shower and off to work you go. Don't want you to be late ... or turn up in torn and dirty clothes."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know." Xander flashed him another grin. "You can use the bathroom next door too."

"Xander."

"Gibbs." Rolling his good eye, he continued, "Look, go to work, do whatever it is you're doing, _then_ we can meet again tonight to talk about stuff. Or, even better, tomorrow night to give all of you time to process what you've learnt. And I promise I'll try to answer any questions you might have."

Gibbs was ready to argue when he recognised the look in Xander's eyes. Once again, the young, carefree man was gone and replaced by someone who'd seen too much for his age.

"Fine."

"And Gibbs?"

"_What_!"

"Remember, not a word to Abby or McGee."

OOOOOO

"Xander!" Abby squealed in the middle of her conversation with the Director. She put the evidence down and made her way over to her little brother. Hugging him tightly, she said, "I'm so sorry Buffy and Willow had to leave so abruptly."

"It's okay," he replied, amused.

"No, no, no. They're your best friends!" Abby grabbed Xander's arm and pulled him across her lab. Pushing Bert into his arms, she grinned, "There you go. Squeezing Bert always makes me feel better."

Jenny Sheppard watched the siblings in amusement. Unfortunately, she had a tight schedule to adhere to and that didn't leave time for long interruptions. "Abby, I-"

Bert farted. And gave Jenny an innocent look. As did Xander. He gave Abby another quick hug upon the Director's interruption of their family time, this time with Bert squashed between them.

Jenny rolled her eyes. "I really need these results."

"Of course you do!" Abby kissed Xander's cheek and quickly made her way back to the abandoned results. "There you go!"

Xander listened to his sister explain her findings to the Director for about a minute before he tuned out. Oh, he loved listening to his sister's voice, it had always been a source of madness - and comfort - during his childhood. But he didn't need to listen to the actual words - especially if he wasn't interested in them - to revisit those childhood memories. He found a chair, slouched down and hugged Bert, happy to hear his sister babbling along in the background. This was all the proof he needed to know there'd be no ill-effects from their unfortunate incident at the club.

It only took a few minutes before he had her all to himself again.

"Spill."

Xander frowned at his sister. She was standing in front of him, arms akimbo and a stern look on her face.

"What do you mean?"

"Buffy and Willow having to leave so quickly? Are you sure everything is alright? If not, you know I could get Gibbs to do some serious ass kicking?"

Chuckling at the memories of the previous night - and the idea of Gibbs doing some ass kicking to help out Buffy and Willow - Xander shook his head. "They're fine. Honestly. Just ... you know, grown up."

"No more freedom of doing whatever pleases you the most?" Abby asked wistfully.

"Yup." Xander grinned and gave Bert another hug. "Speaking of which..."

"Africa."

Xander nodded. "My flight leaves in three days."

"You could crash at my place?" Abby accepted Bert from her brother and hugged the hippo close. "We haven't seen each other in ages and now you're leaving again. And it's not like you're just going around the corner! Can't they send someone else? What if something happens to you? How am I supposed to help if you're so far away? And who's going to help you if you get hurt in the middle of nowhere? What if you can't get help because there's no cell signal and you've got a flat tire and the reserve tire is flat too and then you run out of water and if you stay with the car you'll die of thirst because nobody knows you're missing and no other car comes by to help you or you actually leave the car to get help and then somebody stops but you aren't there and you'll still die of thirst and-"

Hugging Abby close, he whispered, "Breathe."

Abby took a deep breath. "Oh." She took a few more. "Oh. Wow. That explains why I suddenly felt so lightheaded."

Xander chuckled and kissed her cheek.

"Gibbs!" Abby let go of her brother and made her way over to man she had spotted while looking over Xander's shoulder. "You've got some work for me? Cause I don't have any results for you."

Gibbs smiled and pulled out his hand from behind his back, handing over a fresh Caf-Pow. "How are you?"

"Great! Thanks!" Her smile turned into shock and she turned to her brother. "Oh no! That's not ... I didn't mean to-"

"Breathe." Xander squeezed her hand. "I know exactly what you meant."

"I don't." Gibbs stated.

Abby sighed. "Xander's heading to Africa in a few days. For like forever! He won't even stay in one place but travel around. How am I supposed to keep in contact with him? Make sure he's alright?"

"I'll be in constant contact with my bosses. And I already promised I'll call or email as often as I can, remember? I'll be fine," Xander explained patiently, making Gibbs wonder how often they'd had this conversation before.

On impulse, he pulled out a business card and scribbled his home number on the back. "Here. Call me if you need anything."

Xander raised his eyebrows and accepted the card wordlessly. It looked like they'd just added Africa as another topic to their upcoming conversation.

Abby gave Gibbs a one-sided hug. "Thanks."

He nodded and kissed her forehead. "Why don't you take a couple of days off? Spent some time together?"

Xander rubbed his hands in glee. "Yeah, Abs. Just imagine all the trouble we could get into!" He fished out Gibbs' business card again and smirked. "And I've got contacts to get us out of trouble now."

Gibbs couldn't prevent the smile from appearing. This was the carefree Xander, the one that reminded him so much of his favourite Goth. And Abby deserved to spend more time with him - just as much as he deserved to be the carefree young man he should be.

Gibbs took Abby's Caf-Pow from her hands, put it down and then moved to take her lab coat from her as well. "Go home. I'll clear it with the Director."

OOOOOO

Xander and Abby were sprawled on Abby's couch, empty take-out boxes strewn over the table in front of them. "That was great!"

Abby groaned in agreement. "Can't move."

"Me neither." Xander patted his belly appreciatively. Naturally, his cell chose to ring right now. Judging by the ring tone, it wasn't any of the Scoobies - or anyone else Slayer-related, so he ignored it.

Abby raised her eyebrows and Xander shrugged his shoulders. "Too much effort to get to it."

Rolling her eyes, Abby grabbed the remote control. "Ready for another movie?"

"You read my mind!"

OOOOOO

Gibbs was swearing loudly. He'd been trying to reach Xander for a while now, but the young man never picked up his phone. After his second missed try, he'd gone as far as calling Abby to see if everything was alright. And according to her they were having the time of their lives.

He put his phone down and went back to working on his boat. He'd give Xander another hour, then he'd have to call Abby and ask her to hand the phone over. Xander would probably be pissed, but if he wasn't going to answer his phone, than he'd left him no choice but to go down that route.

With Xander leaving soon and them still having to have the promised conversation about the supernatural, there was more pressure than ever to get Abby's brother to agree to a meeting.

OOOOOO

Xander deliberately chose to take the stairs to his hotel room. They were further away than the elevator, delaying his arrival even more. When he finally reached his floor and turned a couple of corners to get within reach of his room, he saw exactly what he'd expected to see.

Tony was leaning against the wall next to his room, Ziva was standing opposite him with Gibbs pacing between them. Xander grinned and started whistling.

"Harris! It's about time!"

Xander took his time in finding the key card and opening the door to his room. "Patience, young padawan."

Tony snorted then shook his head. "Sorry, Xander. But that was a waste of a perfectly fine quote."

Gibbs glared at his agent and Tony quickly walked passed him and into the room.

"So..." Xander started once everyone was seated. "Questions?" He waited for a heartbeat before continuing, "No? That's great! Have a great day, 'twas a fantastic conversation!"

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "Nice try."

"Thanks!"

"How do you fight vampires?" Ziva asked quickly before anyone could intervene. And sure enough, Gibbs growled at her.

"Stake to the heart, fire, beheading, sun light. Oh, and a nice long drink of holy water," Xander replied just as quickly.

Tony's eyebrows climbed up high on his forehead. "I thought Buffy said you wouldn't teach us?"

"We won't." Xander shrugged his shoulders. "But that doesn't mean we won't give you enough information to survive an attack should the need arise. Besides, you've already fought a fledgling and watched Buffy fight another one."

Ziva tilted her head. "But she was mainly playing with him, yes?"

Xander nodded, a smile playing along his face. "Yup. You're are skilled fighter. I'm pretty sure you can figure out some dos and don'ts from what you've seen and experienced yourselves."

Her brow furrowed, Ziva nodded slowly. "I will think on it."

Xander clapped once, then rubbed his hands together. "Goody. Anymore questions?"

"Yes!" Tony shouted before Xander had finished the question. Gibbs gave a curt nod towards him before he turned back to Xander. "How did the thugs end up on the fire escape?"

"What'cha think?"

"Buffy would be capable of doing it," Ziva said.

"Yeah, but she wasn't there," Tony pointed out. "Her story of flying in later checked out."

"I know." Ziva looked at him pointedly. "As I was saying before I was interrupted, Buffy could have done it but we know she was not involved. However, she is not the only fighter, yes?"

Xander smirked, then nodded towards Tony. "Casanova over there got all touchy feeling with a couple of them."

"_What_?"

Ziva's eyes opened wide before she nodded. "The women in the club. Leather-clad brunette and her two friends. They left before the thugs turned up on the fire escape." Ziva jumped up and paced the room, muttering in Hebrew. A couple of moments later she sighed and sat back down. "Something felt off, but I could not put my thumb on it."

"Finger. Couldn't put my finger on it," Tony corrected absently.

Ziva glared at him before continuing, "They were too aware of themselves, of their surroundings. They are fighters and the brunette was their leader. She is like Buffy, yes? The others too?"

Xander just smiled but didn't answer. He knew they were going back to the club the next morning, trying to get their hands on any surveillance tapes. However, they wouldn't find anything. "Next question?"

Gibbs glared at him but realised he wouldn't get anymore answers on this particular topic. "Graduation. You didn't just accidentally mix up the date on Abby's invitation." It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"Our class had the highest graduation rate in years."

"Huh? So you lot were smarter?" Tony asked, a frown appearing on his face.

Xander laughed humourlessly. "Nope. Lowest mortality rate in years. Buffy's doing. But we've learned someone wanted to change that during graduation. A big bad. Well, make that a big, big bad. We armed ourselves, armed our class mates and rigged the high school with explosives." Xander smiled lopsidedly. "It's everyone's dream, right? Blowing up the school during graduation?" He sighed. "We graduated, the big bad appeared and ate the principal - no loss there, really - then we got up and fought. Lured the baddie into the school and blew it up. We won, lost a few more students but still had the lowest mortality rate in years."

Gibbs jumped up and grabbed Xander by the shoulders. "Why didn't you ask for help?"

Xander just shook his head. "And say what? A giant snake is trying to take over Sunnydale on graduation day?"

Gibbs opened his mouth but no sound came out. He let go of Xander's shoulders and sat down with a plop. Rubbing his face tiredly, he asked, "Is that where your scars come from? Graduation?"

"Some. Being friends with the Slayer kinda puts you in the spotlight. You learn to run, to fight and that girly screams are more effective than manly ones." Looking Gibbs in the eyes, he added light-heartedly, "I'm the best bait ever!" Before anyone could comment on this - and by the looks of it, all three agents wanted to that rather badly - Xander asked, "Any more questions?"

"The barkeeper was scared of you."

Xander blinked. They'd noticed that, huh? Then again, Ziva hadn't actually asked him anything, so he remained quiet. Gibbs, however, wasn't having any of it. He rolled his eyes and asked, "_Why_? What did you say to him that he suddenly remembered the surveillance camera above the bar?"

"I was just being friendly, introducing myself."

"Then why was he-" Ziva snorted. "He is a demon, yes?"

Xander shrugged his shoulders. "Even in the supernatural world it's not all black and white. Just as you have pure and mixed demons, you have bad and good ones. There are quite a few that just want to get on with their life, blend in with us humans and be happy. So it doesn't matter if the barkeeper is a demon or not, what matters to us is that he's on the right side of the law."

"_Is_ he?" Gibbs asked.

Xander nodded. "Yup. And it's a good club, I don't mind Abby going back there either."

Gibbs watched him for a minute before he gave a short nod. He knew Xander would do anything to keep his sister safe and him having no problems with her going back there was enough reassurance for him. At least for the moment. Still, Xander hadn't answered his question yet. "Barkeeper?"

"Insistent, aren't we?" Xander wriggled his eyebrows at the older agent. "Like I said, I introduced myself. Might have used my nickname, though."

Tony grinned. "You've got a nickname?"

"Yup. I'm _The One Who Sees_." Xander scrunched up his nose and scratched his head. "No idea how they've come up with this one, though."

Gibbs started to get an idea, but he kept it to himself. He would have to ponder on it for a while.

"What's Buffy's nickname? And Willow's?" Tony asked, rubbing his hands together in excitement.

Xander opened his mouth as if to answer but no sound came out. Instead, he waved a finger at Tony and grinned. "Nice try. Now, if there aren't any more questions..." Xander got up and moved towards the door.

"There are." Gibbs replied without blinking. Sighing, Xander sat down again and waited for Gibbs to continue.

OOOOOO

Several hours later had Xander standing in his shower, hot water pouring over him, helping to drain the tension from his shoulders. He had to give it to Gibbs, he and his agents had been thorough in getting all the answers they'd wanted. Or at least the ones he was willing to give them. It had been well after midnight before they'd finally left his room.

Xander sighed and turned his face into the spray. Hopefully they were satisfied enough to not go looking for trouble on their own. Of course, what he hadn't told them was that there was a slayer going to be stationed in the area to keep an eye on things. And on Abby, if the bad guys should ever find out she was actually related to Xander.

As for not telling Abby and McGee about this completely different world they didn't know about, Xander had simply pointed out that he didn't want to destroy their innocence. As, despite everything they've seen in the line of their job, they've both kept a certain amount of innocence about them. And then he had pulled his trump card - he had asked Gibbs how long he thought Abby would resist to go looking for vampires after learning they were more than just a myth.

The older man had visible paled, as had Tony and Ziva had muttered something but agreed with Xander's assessment. After that Xander had grinned triumphantly at them and had pointed out that if they didn't want to lie to Abby and McGee, then they'd better not get actively involved with the supernatural world. Gibbs had glared at him in return but Xander had known he had won. For now anyway.

Finally turning off the water, Xander stepped out of the shower and dried himself off rather haphazardly. As soon as he reached his bed, he let the towel drop and flung himself onto it, barely managing to pull the covers over himself before he was fast asleep. It had been a long night and he had to be up early to make the most of his last day her.

Or Abby would do some very not-so-nice things to him.

OOOOOO

_A/N: Has anyone seen a random brain walk by them? Cause I seemed to have misplaced mine... Anyway, there's only one chapter left which also means now's the time to point out things I (read: the muses, I'm totally innocent in this) forgot to mention or follow up sufficiently._


	21. Chapter 21

**Epilogue**

"Xander!"

Before he had to time to look in the direction of his sister's voice, he found himself engulfed in her arms. "You're back! It's been like ages! And, wow, muscles. You've shaped up nicely. No more squishy Xander. But don't worry, I'll feed you all your favourites. And I've stocked up on Twinkies. Lots and lots of-"

"_Mine_."

Abby looked down in surprise. She hadn't noticed the tugging on her short skirt until she heard the annoyed outcry from below. Abby took a step back without letting go of Xander and looked down.

The confusion on her face immediately transformed into a bright smile.

A small girl of about four was pressing herself into Xander's leg. One arm was tightly wrapped around said leg and her other hand was still holding onto Abby's skirt, tugging ever so slightly. Her brow was deeply furrowed as she glared at Abby. "_Mine_!"

Abby smiled, knelt down and held out her hand. "Hi Sweetie, I'm Abby."

The girl looked at her with pale blue eyes. But her brow remained furrowed as she studied Abby and the outstretched hand. After what seemed like ages to Abby, the girl turned her head and gave Xander a questioning look.

Xander smiled and nodded before picking the girl up. He winced as he settled her on his hips, but ignored his discomfort in favour of introducing two of his favourite girls in the world. Besides, kneeling down would have been much more painful. "Niara, this is Abby. My sister." Brushing a kiss on her forehead, he whispered, "My Adimu."

Niara's eyes opened wide as she turned her head to study the woman in front of her again. She tilted her head and squinted at Abby. Finally having come to a decision, she rested her head in the crook of Xander's neck and waved.

If anything, Abby's smile became even bigger. She wanted nothing more than to pluck her from Xander's arms and cuddle her close. But one look at her brother told her that would be a bad idea so she scratched that thought. Instead, she slowly moved her hand towards the one still waving at her, watching Niara to make sure she wasn't scaring her.

"Hi." Abby gently took the girl's hand in hers for a moment. "It's nice to meet you."

Niara smiled, but remained where she was.

"So, anyone hungry?" Abby asked.

Xander's phone rung before he could answer. Looking at the display, he sighed and answered. He listened for a short time before telling the other person he'd call back in a minute.

"Niara?" Once he had the girl's attention, he motioned to his sister. "Will you stay with my Adimu for a while? I'll be right over there; you can watch me all the time, okay?"

Niara wasn't convinced as she looked between her Xander and the woman. She looked nice enough, but then so had the men who had wanted to take her away and hurt her.

Abby was bouncing on her feet, itching to cuddle the girl but kept her hands at her sides, not wanting to scare her away. Remembering her backpack, she squealed and quickly lifted it from the floor. A second later it was open and she pulled out Bert. Squeezing him, she grinned as Niara looked at the farting hippo in surprise.

"This is Bert. Do you wanna hold him?"

Niara gave Xander another look and an encouraging nod later she tentatively held out her arms. Abby handed her Bert before taking her from Xander's arms.

"Okay?"

Niara gave Xander a small nod.

"I'll be right back." Xander leaned forward and kissed first Niara and then Abby on the cheek before quickly walking away from them.

o-o-o

Gibbs was swearing quietly. After her car had broken down the day before, he'd promised Abby to collect her and Xander from the airport, even though he'd been unable to take her there in the first place. Naturally, he first had been stuck in traffic and had then trouble finding a parking spot.

He was rather tempted to use his badge to get what he needed, but knew Abby would disapprove. She explicitly asked for his help as friend, not as NCIS agent. And, as the last case had been particularly hard on Abby, he'd decided to humour her. Now all he had to do was find the two amidst the masses of other travellers.

He hated airports. At least the queue at Starbucks was short for once and, fresh coffee in hand, he went in search of his wayward Goth. Gibbs spotted Xander first. He was standing somewhat to the side, out of the way of rushing passengers, talking on the phone. As he got closer, Gibbs saw the tiredness in his stance in general and in his face in particular. He also noticed the way he favoured his left leg.

They acknowledged each other before Xander motioned towards some seats. Gibbs eyes followed and he quickly spotted Abby - holding a small child. He raised his eyebrows at Xander but he was already engrossed in his phone call again. Gibbs took another sip from his coffee and made his way to Abby.

As he came closer, he realised the child was a small girl and, in contrast of his first assumption of her being white, an African albino. Smiling - he didn't want to scare her and he had to admit that she was cute - he stepped in front of them. "Hi."

"Gibbs!" Abby beamed at him. Leaning even closer to the girl on her lap, she added, "Niara, this is Gibbs. He's my friend."

Niara squirmed in response, glaring daggers at him. Abby frowned, then smirked at Gibbs, shooing him to the side. "You're in the way, she can't see Xander."

Gibbs rolled his eyes at her but stepped to the side and sat down next to Abby. Niara stopped squirming immediately and gave Bert a tight squeeze. She sighed when he made his farting sound and settled back against Abby.

"She's a bit shy."

"And?"

Abby shrugged her shoulders. "Xander's phone rang before I could ask."

"Xan!" Niara lifted her arms towards him as soon as he started walking towards them.

Abby frowned as she saw him limp. She hadn't noticed it before, probably because she was so fixated on the girl in her arms. But now that she had, she was worried. "Are you okay?"

Xander sat down next to her and took Niara. "I'm fine."

"You're limping."

"It's nothing a good night of sleep and pack of Twinkies can't cure."

Gibbs snorted - and found himself at the receiving ends of two impressive glares from Xander and Niara. "I'll be fine," Xander said firmly. "Though I was wondering if we could crash at your place? I was supposed to meet a friend and take Niara to her house but something came up."

Abby huffed. "That's a stupid question! Of course you can come! I've stocked up on all your favourite foods, remember?"

Xander's face lit up immediately. "Twinkies!"

"Yup." Abby grinned. "Let's go!"

o-o-o

Niara's eyes never left the window during the drive to Abby's apartment. There was so much to see! And with Xander next to her she knew that nobody could hurt her - just like nobody could hurt her when she was with Adimu. The thought of Adimu made her sad and she sniffed quietly. Xander was there immediately, putting his arms around her shoulders and giving her a reassuring squeeze.

Moments later they stopped and got out of the car. Niara had to crane her neck to see the top of the building they were standing in front of. Until today, she'd never seen anything that high. Pressing closer to her Xander, she couldn't get enough of all the new sights in front of her.

"Let's go." She saw Xander reaching for her hand. Pressing even closer, she shook her head.

Xander smiled and adjusted her head. Then he bent down to pick her up. "Someone's lazy, huh?"

Niara giggled but shook her head. Xander stuck out his tongue at her before following Gibbs into the building. Though he wasn't particularly happy for him to come up with them, he was also glad he was taking care of their luggage. Even though he'd said his leg would be fine, it did hurt after the long journey.

Once inside, he put Niara down again and nodded in encouragement when Abby offered to show her around. Xander listened to Abby talking excitedly for a moment before settling onto the couch. His head fell back and he closed his eyes as soon as he was half-way comfortable.

Xander didn't need to open his eyes to know Gibbs was still there - and watching him.

"What?"

"Your leg?"

"Will be fine. Another scar to add, that's all," Xander replied rather dismissively.

Gibbs nodded, even though the younger man couldn't see him. "The girl? Is she?"

Xander rubbed his face tiredly before opening his eyes and looking at Gibbs. "No but her sister ... I was too late. She was mortally injured before I found her."

"How old?"

Xander sighed again and that was answer enough for Gibbs. He swore quietly and started pacing. Over the past ten months he'd often thought about the Slayers. Of ways to help them, to prevent teenage girls from fighting the monsters of the night.

One month after Xander had left, he had gotten another visit from Buffy. He'd started asking question and going as far as going back to the club with the demon barkeeper. Apparently Buffy had found out and wasn't happy about it. So she'd come back and given him a final warning - stay away or get in trouble with your superiors.

They had verbally sparred for a while but neither had been willing to change their opinion. In the end, it had been a phone call for Buffy that had changed everything. She had stepped out to answer and when she had come back, she'd been scowling furiously before demanding coffee.

Then they'd started to talk properly. Gibbs had voiced his concerns, his dislike of letting girls fight when they should be in school and only worry about what to wear next or which boy to ask out. Buffy had agreed wholeheartedly - and explained why it couldn't be. Then she had given him more background information and told him about their plans, now that there was more than one Slayer. He had grumbled that he still didn't like it - and then pointed out some possible improvements in their plans.

And while Gibbs had accepted that he couldn't prevent the girls from going out to fight, that they were the best equipped to do so, he'd also realised that he could still help. Going into the fight with a good plan - and backup plans for that matter - was important after all. And he knew all about planning. He'd suggested giving the girls theoretical scenarios and allowing them to come up with a plan, a plan he could go over with a toothcomb and point out the flaws. Buffy, or rather Giles, had agreed to a trial run and after it had proven popular with the girls, it had become a regular part of their schedule.

Now he knew more about the supernatural than he ever wanted to know, but at least wasn't feeling as helpless as he had at the beginning. He also knew that Xander hadn't just been travelling through Africa on a whim but rather followed information about new Slayers, finding them and offering advice and the opportunity to be trained properly. However, he hadn't known that Xander was coming back until Abby had jumped up and down in the bullpen a couple of days ago, telling everyone in shouting distance that her little brother was coming home.

Gibbs stopped pacing and sat back down. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah." Xander sounded as tired as he looked. But Gibbs still needed answers.

"What about the girl?"

"Niara." Xander said absently. "Adimu, her sister, didn't just have your box-standard slayer package. She apparently was a gifted Seer too." Xander snorted bitterly.

"She saw her death?"

"Yep. But she went to the demons' nest anyway. She killed all of them - but was poisoned in the process. She was barely alive when I found her." Xander rubbed his face again and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and letting his head hang low. "She was expecting me. She ... she called Niara and told her I'd keep her safe and that the spider would make sure everything would be fine. Then she closed her eyes and died with a smile on her face."

"Spider?"

Xander shrugged his shoulders. Gibbs' guess would be as good as his own.

"What about their mother?"

"Niara's mom is still in their village in Tanzania. She's just married again and is expecting another child."

"So she just gave her other child away?"

"No!" Xander took a couple of calming breaths. "No. She let Niara go because she loved her. They live in a rural area where witchdoctors are still playing an important part. And some of them _really_ like albino body parts for their potions."

The venom with which Xander said the last sentence told Gibbs everything he needed.

"Everyone knew Adimu was strong and that she would protect her little sister. But with her gone..."

"Letting her go was the only way to protect her," Gibbs finished the sentence for Xander, who nodded in reply.

"We left that very night." Xander rubbed his leg absently. There had been some trouble on the way, but thankfully they'd made it to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's largest city and stayed in a small hotel until they had all the papers they needed.

"What happens now?"

"You know our Watcher in Washington?" Gibbs nodded. "She is willing to take Niara in. Willow assured me she'd be a good choice. She was supposed to meet us at the airport, but there was some trouble she had to attend to."

Gibbs raised his eyebrows but didn't comment. It didn't sound like Xander was looking forward to letting the little girl go. Then another thought crossed his mind. "It is awfully quiet."

Xander's eyes shot wide opened and he concentrated on the sounds surrounding them. Where there had been the faint sound of his sister's giggles, sometimes mixed with Niara's, there was now silence.

Both men got up simultaneously and moved towards Abby's bedroom, the last room they had heard noises coming from. The door was ajar, but the room behind it was silent. Gibbs and Xander exchanged a look before Xander pushed the door open - and stopped in his tracks. A huge grin adorning his face, he motioned for Gibbs to be quiet before he stepped aside to let him see.

Abby was lying on her back on the bed - and Niara was sprawled across her with Bert safely tucked under one arm. Both had wet hair and were fast asleep. As Gibbs went closer, he noticed something else. Shaking his head in disbelief, he pointed to where Niara's free hand was resting.

Her fingers where slightly curled but had been unmistakably placed over the spider tattoo on Abby's neck.

Xander's eyes opened wide in shock.

o-o-o

Back in the living room, Gibbs pushed Xander into the couch. He still hadn't spoken since seeing Niara and his sister sleeping and seemed to be in a bit of a shock.

"The slayer-seer, how accurate were her visions?"

"Accurate enough to call Giles and tell him of a probable change of plans," Xander said drolly. He never wanted to drag his sister into his world but it looked like it might be too late already.

Gibbs put his hand on Xander's shoulder as if he was reading his thoughts. "You said Niara isn't a Slayer, right? Is there a chance she will become one?"

Xander shook his head. "No, I've already tested her. Willow's detector thingy would have picked up on it."

"Then maybe this is a way to keep Niara away from the supernatural, rather than pulling Abby in."

Xander yawned widely. "Maybe."

Gibbs patted his shoulder. "Lay down, take a nap. There's always time to think about it later. Besides, you look dead on your feet."

"Gee, thanks." Xander grumbled but his eyes were closing already. Moments later, his breathing even out and Gibbs knew he was asleep.

Picking up a blanket, he put it over Xander's sleeping form before making his way into the kitchen.

He made himself a coffee and sat at the breakfast bar, thinking.

It looked like he hadn't just gained a complete new view of the world he was living in over the past year, but his family had grown as well. And, if Xander's reaction to Abby and Niara was any indication, it was still growing. It wasn't a bad thing either but just another reason to keep doing his job, hopefully getting better and better. He might not be able to fight the monsters of the night, but he could make damn well sure that those fighting them didn't need to worry about the monsters of the human kind.

He gave the young man on the couch another glance.

Abby's little brother.

They were similar in so many ways. It might be ironic that while Abby was fascinated by the idea of vampires, Xander was fighting them - and yet, in a strange way, it was fitting. And he had to agree with Xander - Abby should never have to learn the truth.

He was still deep in thought when he heard someone coming towards the kitchen. Someone small. A smile spreading across his face, he turned towards the door and, sure enough, Niara was standing there, wearing one of Abby's shirts and rubbing her eyes with one hand while the other was holding onto Bert.

"Thirsty?"

The girl scrutinized him before she stretched out her arms and nodded. Gibbs picked her up and got her some orange juice.

"Found your spider, huh?"

Niara grinned and nodded.

Gibbs chuckled. It looked like Abby's little brother brought her a present from his trip none of them could have anticipated.

And no matter how it would end, it felt right.

o-o-o

_A/N: It's done! No idea where Niara came from, but I wanted to give a look into the future and somehow she sneaked in... Anyway, thanks for the ride, you've all been amazing! I loved all your reviews, have read them at least once and more often than not have they helped me to drive the story forward. You guys rock!_


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